Description
he Federal Mafia is a book written by Schiff, while in prison. His son Peter Schiff referred to him as a political prisoner. In the book, Schiff contended that the income tax system and Internal Revenue Service were illegal. On August 9, 2004, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the book to be fraudulent and upheld an injunction issued by a U.S. District Court in Nevada under 26 U.S.C. § 7408 against Irwin Schiff and associates Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen against the sale of this book by those persons. The prohibition does not extend to other sellers of the book.
The court rejected Schiff’s contention on appeal that the First Amendment protects sales of the book, as the court found that the information it contains is fraudulent, as it advertised that it would teach buyers how to legally cease paying federal income taxes.
Schiff, Neun, and Cohen were barred under the injunction from selling or advertising material advocating nonpayment of tax, from preparing a tax return for others, and from otherwise providing assistance or encouragement to others in violating tax law. Schiff and his associates were additionally required to provide a copy of the injunction to each of their customers, post it on their website, and provide the government with a customer list.
Schiff and his associates responded by providing the book for free on their website.
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