Paul Manafort’s multiyear tax fraud and Michael Cohen’s ability to easily arrange campaign contributions as hush money could have been intercepted sooner based on existing tax and campaign rules. On Tuesday, Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was convicted of eight tax- and bank-fraud charges — the same day Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, pleaded guilty to tax fraud and campaign finance violations. Such worries come amid a steady, multiyear decline in the number of financial fraud cases the government has pursued, erosions that began during the Obama administration after Republicans took control of Congress. The IRS, for instance, conducted audits on just 0.6 percent of tax returns last year, the lowest level in 15 years. Criminal enforcement is way down.”The chief of IRS criminal enforcement acknowledged weaknesses in his most recent annual report.

Source: Washington Post August 25, 2018 22:19 UTC