Four (4) specific realities were verified at this
meeting... 1.) Going back just 6 years and then approximately 40 years, the negative
financial impact to the IRS and the above mentioned political subdivisions not receiving
payment by the tobacco companies totaled well over $100 million dollars.
This included estimated interest and penalties but did NOT include
civil penalties for fraud.
2.) That my estimate of $30 million dollars was conservative and, civil
penalties aside, the fraud used by the tobacco companies in filing these false claims
allows the IRS to go back as far as they want to (which can be over 40 years) which would
increase that $100 million dollar loss to the IRS several times over.
3.) That the information we were supplying to the IRS was new and
previously unknown to the IRS.
4.) That there was NO investigation ongoing or even conceived on this
false claim for, again, the IRS never had a clue OF the existence of this false claim
being made by the tobacco companies. We filed the Original Information claims, as
requested by the IRS, and were assured that prompt action would be taken by the IRS for
the recovery of the vast sums of moneys referred to above, yet not even 2 months later,
the IRS sent me a "form" letter informing us that they were mysteriously, yet
emphatically, NOT going to take the simple measures to recover hundreds of millions of
dollars in lost and defrauded funds.
( see http://rxshuster.org/irsresponse.htm
).
Although there are dozens upon dozens of NEVER previously revealed
false claims and even more fraudulent tobacco company policies, practices and procedures
with significantly HIGHER negative financial impacts to the states and some even affecting
municipalities, I felt it prudent to release just the SMALLEST one affecting the IRS to be
certain that they would address the Original Information filings assertively, aggressively
and in a timely manner. The betrayal by the IRS to the American taxpayer to just walk away
from hundreds of millions of defrauded dollars is unacceptable. This betrayal by the IRS
has influenced me to roll out The Shuster Project about 6 weeks earlier than planned, for
the 50 states and thousands of businesses are also being tremendously impacted financially
by fraudulent tobacco company policies, practices and procedures, not to mention false
claims.
I want to give our Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen the
opportunity to see the validity of MY dealings with the IRS for themselves, to see the
betrayal by the IRS to the American taxpayers relative to the hundreds of millions of
dollars the IRS is choosing to walk away from, and I want to give the Senators and
Congresspersons the opportunity to reinstate those Original Information filings and
reactivate the investigation and to recover those hundreds of millions of dollars for the
American taxpayers, because there are more numerous false claims yet to be revealed.
In a separate action I have initiated, due to the IRS betrayal of the
Original Information filings, I have notified the Attorneys General of 42 of the 50 states
that there are false claims made by the tobacco companies that negatively impact them, as
well.
( see www.rxshuster.org/forthe1.htm ).
This should be enough information for now to pique the interest of the
media to the fact that NON-health related tobacco industry issues involving fraudulent
policies, practices and procedures and false claims made by the tobacco industry carry a
price tag of lost tax revenues and income streams to both the federal and state
governments and, to a smaller degree, even municipalities, to the tune of a conservatively
estimated $35-$50 Billion dollars.
I have established a Media page on my site for those media outlets I
was not able to obtain due to the accelerated introduction of The Shuster Project. As I
intend to update RXShuster.org on a regular basis of every 10 to 14 days, responses
allowing, I would ask that you all "re-sign" your newsroom and/or editorial
contact email addresses there so that I can notify you of any and all updates and new
press releases as they are made available to you. As the scope of the fraud and false
claims that exist in the tobacco industry are considerable, I would ask you to understand
that I will not reveal all of them immediately, as investigations can be jeopardized and
prosecutions affected.
I have made available on RXShuster.org specific examples of a federal
issue, a state issue, a business issue and a municipal issue. More will be forthcoming
and, as I establish a dialogue with the media over a short period of time, an incredible
array of information will be made available to you.
Thank You for this opportunity to address you and please utilize the
mechanisms I have provided for you on my site to contact me so that I can keep in contact
with you.
