Roger Stone: The Justice Department is filing a civil lawsuit for unpaid taxes

In a six-count civil complaint, investigators said Stone and his wife, Nydia Stone, owed about $ 1.5 million in unpaid taxes from 2007 and 2011, and another $ 407,000 as of 2018.

The Stones bypassed and frustrated the (Internal Revenue Service’s) debt collection efforts by repeatedly funneling money into a corporate entity they controlled called Drake Ventures, the researchers wrote. Stone and his wife then used the Drake Ventures account to “fund a lavish lifestyle despite owing nearly $ 2 million in unpaid taxes, interest, and fines,” they wrote.

According to the complaint, the Stones would have used the Drake Ventures account to pay for personal expenses such as spa visits, haircuts, groceries, restaurants and dental appointments.

“The government’s statement is ridiculous,” Stone said in a statement to CNN. “They are well aware that my two-year battle against the Epically corrupt Mueller investigation has left my wife and I on the brink of bankruptcy. I have continued to make ends meet through my company Drake Ventures. To describe my current lifestyle as “Excessive.” “Will prove ludicrous in court. The political motivation of the DOJ will be abundantly clear at trial.”

The complaint is not an accusation of crime. Separately, Stone was convicted of lying to Congress and tampering with witnesses as part of the Russian probe, but was pardoned last year.

Throughout that criminal case, Stone routinely asked for donations from Trump supporters, telling them he was running out of money and needed help paying his lawyers.

Stone has not yet responded to the civil complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida, where Stone lives. In the complaint, the Justice Department asked the judge to order Stone and his wife to pay nearly $ 2 million in unpaid taxes, “plus interest … as permitted by law.”

Source