Charges Against Former KPMG Employees Properly Dismissed

Abstract

In the J. Stein case, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of conspiracy and tax evasion charges against 13 former employees of a major accounting firm, stemming from their alleged involvement in abusive tax shelters. The government's actions in pressuring the accounting firm (which was an unindicted coconspirator) to place conditions upon advancement of legal fees, cap them and to ultimately cut them off deprived the defendants of their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.