United States v. Robert G. Buckner

Robert G. Buckner (hereafter appellant) appeals from his conviction by jury verdict of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 ; two counts of attempting to evade income tax in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 ; and two counts of knowingly subscribing to materially false tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1). The taxable years involved are 1970 and 1971. Also convicted of conspiracy and filing of false loan application was one Lang, an alleged co-conspirator. Lang has not appealed.

We briefly review the facts in their aspect most favorable to the government. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60 , 62 S.Ct. 457 , 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942).

In 1969, appellant and Lang formed a Subchaptér S corporation for the stated purpose of constructing and managing hotels and motels. Two projects were undertaken and were eventually completed. Construction loans for these were obtained from Transamerica Company, under which the corporation drew monthly amounts based on the amount of expenditure incurred during the previous month. Early in 1970, and while the hotel projects were under construction, appellant made improvements to his residence, most…