Shelters That Made Losses Vanish

A tax lawyer who was also an accountant ran the tax practice of a large firm's regional office. Over ten years he designed and sold shelters to very wealthy clients. The deals used paired trades and partnerships that carried almost no real economic risk but threw off huge paper losses, which clients then used to wipe out real income. Prosecutors put the phony losses above seven billion dollars. He used the same shelters on his own return.