Author: Andrew

 

Our public records team has located an IRS federal tax lien filed on 7/29/2015 against Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher Jr. The tax lien is connected to Fletcher’s 2010 ($1,372,097.37) and 2013 ($30,551.96) 1040 income tax debts, a total of $1,402,649.33. It was filed in New York City and is therefore a public record through NYC’s Department of Finance.

Mr Fletcher is a former hedge fund manager. His main fund, Fletcher International, may have been insolvent since 2008 and was declared bankrupt in 2012. Fletcher founded Fletcher Asset Management in 1991. He started the fund by suing his former employer Kidder, Peabody & Co. for racial discrimination. Although his racial discrimination claims were dismissed, he eventually won an arbitration award of US$1.26 million.

In February 2011, Fletcher filed a lawsuit against the Board of Directors of The Dakota (its address is referenced on Fletcher’s IRS lien) where he owned four apartments. Among other things, he alleged defamation and unlawful discrimination. Fletcher had signed a contract to purchase a fifth apartment at The Dakota, intending to combine it with his current home. The Dakota board rejected Fletcher’s application based on the financial materials he provided in his application. On his application, Fletcher listed “Duhallow Financial Services” as the independent auditor of his finances. Duhallow was located in a residential neighborhood in the Bronx, staffed by two former Fletcher employees and run by Fletcher’s attorney. The case is still pending.

Fletcher is married to Ellen Pao, a former junior partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, former Reddit CEO and no stranger to litigation herself. Pao sued Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination in 2012. The jury returned a verdict against Pao on all counts and the court awarded $276,000 in costs to Kleiner Perkins.

Pao’s reign at Reddit was short lived and surrounded by controversy. Pao initiated a purge on what she considered offensive content while dissidents described her actions as an attack on free speech. Other complaints included inadequate moderation tools and the fact that posts critical of Pao’s lawsuit were deleted by moderators. Pao’s tenure at Reddit was so brutal that many user came to use the moniker “Chairman Pao”. She resigned in July 2015.

PDF of Alphonse Buddy Fletcher’s most recent IRS federal tax lien.

Toni Braxton’s signature song is “Un-Break My Heart” but maybe it should be “Un-Pay My Taxes”. Braxton, no stranger to stiffing the Taxman, is still running out on her tax bills according to information uncovered by our researchers. Unfortunately for those of us that pay our taxes, Braxton’s tab is going up instead of down.

In 1993 Braxton sold over 10 million copies of her debut studio album on the way to becoming one of the best selling female artists of the 1990’s. Over the course of her career  she has sold over 66 million records. We don’t know what she did with the money but we can tell you what she didn’t do with it- pay her taxes. The 7 time Grammy winner was first hit with a tax lien in 2009 to the tune of  $396,330.

Braxton’s financial irresponsibility goes deeper than taxes. Braxton first filed for bankruptcy in 1998 with over $1 million dollars in debt. That may sound bad but it is nothing compared to her 2010 Chapter 7 bankruptcy when she claimed nearly $50 million in debts. In bankruptcy Braxton agreed to pay her creditors a total of $125,000 to resolve the $50 million in debts. Six months later she dropped $3 million on a new mansion Calabasas.

To cut Braxton some slack, it appears financial irresponsibility is Braxton Family Value. Vincent Herbert, Braxton’s brother in law and co-star on the reality TV show Braxton Family Values, was slapped with a tax lien for $3,325,107.70 in 2014. Ironically in 2011 Tamar Braxton, Toni’s sister and Herbert’s husband, said that paying your taxes was the best advice she ever received.

 

 

Bad boys, bad boys. Watcha gonna do when they come for you?

Watcha gonna do indeed!

Co-creator and former executive producer of the hit series COPS Malcolm Barbour has been slapped with a brutal tax lien of $1,249,069.00. This has come in light of the ever looming tax deadline for this year, a mere few days away. Even though he retired from producing back in 1994, it seems he just can’t catch a break.

This information was uncovered by out dauntless crew of researchers ever on the hunt for the latest story. While the news hasn’t broken yet officially, we’re determined to get you the certified copy, signed and delivered, of Malcolm Barbour’s actual IRS notice of a federal lien.

It just goes to show that no one is above the law. Let’s just hope we don’t see him on any grainy cop car videos in the near future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You down with OBE? Yeah, you know me.

Ms. Glenda A Bailey, editor-in-chief of Hearst fashion mag Harper’s Bazaar, is in hot water with the IRS. A notice of federal tax lien has been filed by a Revenue Officer in Manhattan. The debt is in connection with Bailey’s 2008 ($4,879,219.08) and 2010 ($154,441.63) 1040 personal income tax returns and was addressed to her 135 Central Park West digs at The Langham.

This isn’t Bailey’s first tussle with the Treasury; in 2011 another notice of federal tax lien was filed in NYC for $317,424.93.

Here’s the full PDF of the IRS lien pulled from NYC’s Department of Finance. We suggest Bailey claim her ConEd deposit and throw a few bones to Uncle Sam.

 

 

 

¡No me digas! 

According to our researchers in Los Angeles, California, George Lopez had a federal tax lien recorded in his name on February 27th, 2015. Uncle Sam says the famous Mexican American entertainer is on the hook for $721,530 of personal income tax.

With a name as common as George Lopez- and FamousTaxLiens.com being the first to break this story- our wise readers might wonder if we’ve named the right Sr. Lopez. We’re certain that we do.

The lien bears the following address:

George Lopez
21731 Ventura Blvd Ste 300
Woodland Hills, CA 91364

This is the same as provided for George’s aptly named foundation, the George Lopez Foundation. Let’s hope this is simply another case of having too many houses to keep track of and will get paid pronto (looking at you, Robert De Niro).

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April 6, 2015 update:

We’ve just received a certified copy of George Lopez’s IRS notice of federal tax lien from the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office. The tax debt of $721,530.39 was assessed for his 2013 1040 personal income taxes, and the date of assessment was 11/17/2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does it take to owe $128 million dollars to the federal government on an income tax return? To answer this question let’s meet Sirewl Cox, federal prisoner #94174-038, currently residing at Fort Dix FCI.

 

 

 

 

 

According to the Department of Justice and the IRS, it takes a whole lot of fraud:

Developer Sentenced for Orchestrating Massive Mortgage Fraud Scheme

On December 19, 2013, in Boston, Mass., Sirewl R. Cox was sentenced to 150 months in prison and three years of supervised release.  On November 15, 2013, Cox was convicted of wire fraud, bank fraud and conducting an unlawful monetary transaction.

According to court documents, in 2006 and 2007, Cox identified multiple-family buildings for sale and recruited straw buyers to purchase the buildings.  Cox and others then recruited straw buyers to purchase individual units in buildings that Cox controlled. The straw buyers’ financing for the purchases was obtained by submitting mortgage loan applications and other documents that falsely represented key information. Deals were closed with HUD-1 settlement statements that falsely represented that straw buyers had made down payments and paid other funds in connection with the property transactions, and falsely represented how the proceeds of the mortgage loans were disbursed.

Mr. Cox may have stashed away some of his alleged ill-gotten gains towards website hosting; his real estate site still confidently proclaims that, as President of City Real Estate & Business Brokers, Inc., his goal is, “[t]o be honest, ethical, and mindful at all times.”

From Suffolk County, Mass. Registry of Deeds:

Mr. Suriel was the sole owner of Vibo Corp. Doing business as General Tobacco, Vibo sold less expensive cigarette brands such as GT-one, Bronco and Silver. The company started selling cigarettes in 2000 and managed to make it into fifth position in the cigarette business. For more, see Mike Cottrill’s excellent story over at SBNOnline.com.

Suriel’s deficiencies relate to the timing of deductions for payments due under the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Essentially Vibo Corp took deductions for payments due to the MSA without actually making the payments.

Translation: big time IRS problems for Suriel.

Download full PDF of Vidal Suriel’s $61,799,458.47 tax lien

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 26, 2015, 11:16PM EST update:

According to The Daily Mail, De Niro was unaware of his outstanding 2013 income tax bill until very recently. Apparently the actor’s Tribeca condo has a rather full mailbox overflowing with Uncle Sam’s love letters.

“He had a check for the full amount [$6,410,449.20] hand delivered to the IRS this morning,” state De Niro’s people via the venerable Daily Mail. Don’t forget to add the penalties and interest, Robert!

We’ll dig up our favorite septuagenarian’s Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien once it becomes public record in a few weeks. Quite an eventful launch for us at FamousTaxLiens.com but certainly not the last story we’ll break.

Here’s the original lien filed in February:

Download full PDF of Robert De Niro’s $6,410,449.20 tax lien

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April 4, 2015, 1:18PM EST update:

As promised, Mr. De Niro has paid off his IRS tax lien. Unfortunately, the federal government has already spent his $6.4M+ in the time it’s taken to write this sentence.

Robert De Niro IRS Lien Release (full PDF)