A congressman’s wife has completed her prison term after reportedly helping her brother file false tax returns, some of which was linked to illegal gambling. This wasn’t the real reason she went inside though.
US Representative John Tierney’s wife, 60–year-old Patrice, was released on Tuesday morning after serving 30 days for aiding and abetting her brother’s filing of false tax returns.
Tierney already stated that he believed his wife was betrayed by her brother and said that she believed the income came from her brother selling and licensing software for legal Internet gambling businesses.
Now we understand why she said she didn’t know the source of the money but this is quite clearly a bunk.
We also know that the reason she was put in jail was not because of gambling, which was widely reported as the cause for her 30 day long incarceration. It’s a tax issue – simple as that.
The only reason that Mrs Tierney agreed to help her brother launder the money from gambling is because the US government forces its citizens to choose between breaking tax laws or admitting that they actually run an online gambling business.
The root of the problem is the current US gambling laws that force its otherwise law abiding citizens to make this horrible choice if they want to be in what is considered a relatively benign branch of entertainment in large swathes of the world – betting on sports.
The Congressman’s wife, meanwhile, must now serve two of years of supervised release that includes five months of house arrest.
