United States v. James Gerald Bryan

Bryan appeals his conviction of twenty counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 , one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 , twenty-eight counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206 , and two counts of willful failure to file corporate tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203 . We vacate Bryan’s convictions and remand for further consideration of his discovery requests.

I

In 1985, the grand jury in the District of Oregon returned a 51 count indictment charging Bryan and three other defendants with, among other things, 20 counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 . According to the indictment, Bryan devised a scheme intended to defraud both a class of taxpayers, who were induced by a series of misrepresentations to invest in illegal tax shelters created by Bryan and his co-defendants, and the United States Treasury, which was deprived of tax revenue as a result of the tax shelters. The tax shelters promoted by Bryan were advertised and marketed at seminars targeted at upper-income taxpayers, such as doctors and dentists. Bryan promoted the first shelter by advising…