United States v. Ian Christopherson

MEMORANDUM

The Defendant, Ian Christopherson, was convicted of income tax evasion and employment tax evasion, 26 U.S.C. § 7201 , after a jury trial. The conviction was based on his usage of a bank account in Montana to operate his law firm, the existence of which he failed to disclose to the IRS even after the Agency began to levy his other assets. Before the verdict, the defense proposed a jury instruction on the crime’s mens rea element of “willfulness”:

Although imprecise, this proposed instruction was discussed by both the defense counsel and the prosecutor with the court, and all parties recognized it to be a claim of a good faith misunderstanding of the law that would negate the mens rea for the crime. Essentially, the defense had argued — and hoped to instruct the jury— that Christopherson was unaware that his usage of the second bank account would be considered unlawful tax evasion. The district court rejected the instruction, not as a matter of law but because of an insufficient evidentiary foundation.

The appeal argues only that Christo-pherson was entitled to this jury instruction on his good faith misunderstanding of the law. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §…