Makes you wonder what the real story of this woman is:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/s...-9857104c.html
Karen Louise Younce once told an undercover agent of the Internal Revenue Service that she couldn't guarantee the IRS would never show up at her door. That may be one of the more honest statements she ever made to a "client," according to federal prosecutors and agents.
After tracking her through the netherworld of career tax cheats for nearly 15 years, the IRS showed up and arrested Younce a week ago at the private Grass Valley postal store where she had a mailbox.
True to her nature, Younce did not go quietly.
At first, she refused to admit her identity, according to federal authorities. When asked if she has a lawyer, Younce replied, "All lawyers have taken an oath to help the government."
Her disdain for authority carried over into court this week, where she refused to cooperate in the arraignment procedure. U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd entered a not guilty plea on her behalf Wednesday.
At a bail hearing Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner quoted Younce as saying at the time of her arrest, "Taxpayers are slaves of the government."
Her attorney, J. Toney, told Drozd with his trademark dry sense of humor, "There is perhaps some merit to that point of view."
Over Wagner's strong objection, Drozd ordered Younce released to the supervision of the court's Pretrial Services agency.
She is to post bail of $100,000, to be secured by the Santa Cruz property of a longtime friend, with whom she is to live. She is not to travel outside Northern and Central California.
According to Toney, his client's lack of resources had forced her to live in her car, a plight in sharp contrast to the nature of the charges.
Younce, 53, is charged in a 16-count grand jury indictment with conspiring to bilk the federal government out of tax revenue on more than $2 million of her clients' earnings, assisting them in filing false returns, interfering with the IRS and bank fraud.
She is accused of helping clients hide income through the use of Caribbean bank accounts.
The indictment says that from 1992 through 2002 Younce and a co-defendant, Scott Baker Riess, operated a classic offshore tax dodge. A client's taxable income would appear on paper to flow through a series of domestic and foreign trusts. The last trust in the chain would distribute the funds back to the client in an unreported transaction, the indictment says.
In addition, it says, Younce controlled holding companies and bank accounts in the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies, which were used to facilitate the movement and repatriation of her clients' money.
Riess, 47, has not yet made an appearance in court. Wagner told Drozd he expects Riess to turn himself in shortly. The prosecutor described Riess as a minor player compared to Younce.
She is charged with bank fraud involving the use of checks drawn on a closed account. She used the checks, according to the indictment, to make payments to the IRS and various creditors.
Wagner argued at Friday's bail hearing that Younce is a risk to flee, given her frequent travels abroad, and "a danger to continue to commit crimes," given her veteran status as a tax protester.
"She has a long history of repudiating the authority of the federal government, and no known means of legitimate support," Wagner told Drozd.
Documents found in her purse when she was arrested suggest Younce is "currently in some sort of a mortgage elimination scam to get people to refuse to pay their mortgages," the prosecutor said.
Drozd ordered her to quit providing "financial consultation of any kind" during her pretrial release.
The judge looked at Younce and asked, "Will you abide by the orders I've given you today?"
"Yes, I will," she promised.
