| Description: | Tax suit filed against former Crowley judge |
| Text of article: | Tax suit filed against
former Crowley judge
By The Associated Press
LAFAYETTE-- Former Crowley City Judge Edmund Reggie, a longtime friend of Gov. Edwin Edwards, has-been targeted by a federal lawsuit seeking $819,424 in alleged tax debt.
The Justice Department contends that Reggie, 75, who also is the father-in-law of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, orchestrated a plan to-hide assets in an effort to dodge taxes.
Reggie said that much of the debt has been disputed for more than 20 years and that he was not involved in any scheme to fool the Internal Revenue Service. "All of my past dealings with the IRS have been ruled or adjudicated in my favor," he said in a written statement Monday. "That is why I am taken aback by the news of this civil lawsuit."
The suit focuses on a 1989 agreement between Reggie and his wife, Doris, to split property they had once legally shared and on the subsequent transfer of some of Reggie's property to his wife.
The Justice Department contends that Reggie used the property transfer to dodge taxes for 1975,1976 and 1977, as well as to lower his tax liability for 1990 and 1991.
Reggie said the 1970s tax debt, much of which is interest, has been in dispute, but he has not heard from tax officials in several years. He said the debt was incurred for his investment in a Biloxi hotel.
In 1990, a U.S. tax court ruled that Reggie's wife shared no liability with her husband in the 1970s tax cases, granting her "innocent spouse relief."
The Justice Department refused to comment on the suit. |
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