The Nation - News from Sept. 18, 1986
U.S. District Judge Harry E. Claiborne was unaware of “a horrible mistake” on his income tax return that landed him in prison for income tax evasion, an accountant told a Senate impeachment panel. Jerry Watson, whose firm prepared Claiborne’s 1980 tax return, told the panel that the judge did not know that $88,500 in client fees was used to offset a claimed loss from closing his law practice instead of being reported as income. When Claiborne learned of it, he told Watson, “I think you just got me indicted,” Watson testified.
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