[Mpls] Mail fraud count added to Biernat charges

[Alan Shilepsky]

The news story isn't explicit, but it seems that maybe a mail fraud count is being added because someone (Joe?) filed an individual tax return that didn't declare all income. (Is that a felony count?)

Does this mean that every person on this list who fails to declare **all** their income on their 1040 is vulnerable to a mail fraud indictment, at least if they mailed it to the IRS via the USPS instead of hand delivering it? (What about using FedEx?)
And by the way, aren't those Office Depot coupon rebates income and, I suppose, the sale of appreciated antiques?

The Libertarians say that a country with too many laws is like a country with no laws. Because which laws (and whom they are enforced against) becomes a matter for the discretion of the people in power. So it's rule of those in power rather than of law.

I am not a Joe Biernat fan, but I hate to see "piling on." This action just suggests that the Feds have a weak position that they are trying to bolster.
Or maybe they are trying to do an Al Capone--can't get him on the real charge, so go for tax evasion. But the amount of tax evaded is small (a service in kind) so they go for "mail fraud" because the tax return was mailed? Give me a break.

Someone tell me if I am reading this all wrong.

Alan Shilepsky
Downtown Mpls

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