IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA

Transcription

1 S. Lane Tucker, Bar No STOEL RIVES LLP 510 L Street, Suite 500 Anchorage, AK Telephone (907) Facsimile (907) Thomas H. Bienert, Jr., Cal. Bar No (admitted pro hac vice) tbienert@bmkattorneys.com Ariana Seldman Hawbecker, Cal. Bar No (admitted pro hac vice) ahawbecker@bmkattorneys.com John L. Littrell, Cal. Bar No (admitted pro hac vice) jlittrell@bmkattorneys.com BIENERT, MILLER & KATZMAN, PLC 903 Calle Amanecer, Suite 350 San Clemente, California Telephone (949) Facsimile (949) Attorneys for Defendant Lawrence J. Lawson, Jr. IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff, v. LAWRENCE J. LAWSON, JR. Defendant. Case No. 3:16-cr TMB-DMS DECLARATION OF AMBER KIMMEL [Filed concurrently with the Motion re June 20, 2018 Evidentiary Hearing; the Declarations of Ariana Seldman Hawbecker and Tonya Barber.] DECLARATION OF AMBER KIMMEL Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 1 of 8

2 DECLARATION OF AMBER KIMMEL I, Amber Kimmel, declare as follows: 1. I was a Revenue Officer ( RO ) with the Internal Revenue Service from in or around January 2008 to December In 2008 through the end of my IRS career in 2017, I worked out of the Anchorage IRS filed office, which is located on the second floor of a building located at 949 E. 36 th Avenue in Anchorage. That floor housed the Collections, Examination, and Criminal Investigation sections of the IRS in Anchorage. It was a relatively small office, and IRS personnel from the different sections regularly interacted in the time frame addressed in this declaration. 3. Revenue Agent Michael Zeznock, General Manager Sonia Oen, General Manager John Williamson, Supervisory Special Agent Terry Zeznock (Michael s father) and Special Agent Tonya Rhame worked in that office during the time frame discussed in this declaration. 4. My job as an RO was to collect delinquent taxes, survey for unreported taxes, and secure delinquent returns. My job required face-to-face personal contacts with taxpayers, attorneys, accountants, and other representatives. 5. My supervisor in 2011 was John Williamson, who was a Group Manager in the Collections department and also worked near my desk in Anchorage. My understanding is that in this role, Mr. Williamson was notified of taxpayers who owed money to the IRS, selected those files he wanted to manage from a cue, and assigned them to ROs that he supervised. 6. In early 2011, Williamson assigned me to collect taxes due from Dr. Larry Lawson, who I understand to be the defendant in a pending criminal tax evasion case. Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 2 of 8

3 7. When I contacted Dr. Lawson, he accepted responsibility for the taxes owing. He said he had failed to plan well as he had never made that much money before. I advised him to liquidate some of his assets to pay the IRS. 8. As part of my collections activity, I requested documents from Dr. Lawson concerning his monthly income, expenses, and assets through his Power Of Attorney ( POA ), Ms. Bolvin, who he had assigned to handle matters. As my supervisor, Williamson had access to my case history. Any Revenue Officer, Group Manager and Collections Territory manager would also have been able to access the case history during that time. As a result, Williamson could see what actions I took on the case, and what information I collected from Dr. Lawson. 9. Dr. Lawson provided several pages to me listing his extensive collection of items such as atlases, dinosaurs, books, maps, and other memorabilia. I entered that data into my Archive History Transcript and kept it in my file. 10. Dr. Lawson also told me in May 2012 that he had created a foundation called From the Vault, which put on a display in Wasilla. He said that when it shut down, its assets, including dinosaur bones, were put into one of his airplane hangars in Wasilla. He said that the expenses to operate it were too high and that the assets were expensive to insure. 11. On June 1, Dr. Lawson contacted me saying that he wanted to bring in a check he received from an insurance company. I told him that the IRS could not accept a third party check. I told him he should put it into his personal account and get a check or money order. On June 2, 2012, Dr. Lawson brought in two checks, one that was over $400,000 in an odd amount and another for $200, Dr. Lawson dropped off additional checks at the IRS office in Anchorage on several occasions during In 2011, after his divorce, Williamson was dating a woman named Tonya Naquin. I knew this in 2011 and it was common knowledge at the IRS office Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 3 of 8

4 in Anchorage. After Williamson assigned Dr. Lawson s case to me in 2011 Williamson told his manager, Chris Harris, that he had been dating Naquin and that she was now seeing Dr. Lawson. Harris told Williamson to stay away from Dr. Lawson and told him that he should not be associated with the case. That is the reason that Dr. Lawson s case (and only his case) was reassigned to Doug Hartford, the other group manager at the time. I continued to work the case and Mr. Hartford was my approving manager for Dr. Lawson s case. During this time, Williamson would make mention of Dr. Lawson taking Naquin on trips and purchasing expensive gifts for her. Williamson mentioned this personal connection to Naquin and Dr. Lawson more than once, and in front of other people in the IRS. 14. In or around August 2011, I was asked to submit a payoff amount to Dr. Lawson. He then paid via a check and from the proceeds of the sale of a home. 15. In September 2011, I discussed referring the case to examination with RA GM Sonia Oen and prepared referral papers. I understand that the matter was referred for examination to RA Zeznock in early On April 4, 2012, I was scheduled to go to the Mat-Su Valley area to do some field calls. As I was preparing to go, Mr. Williamson told me that he would be going with me and directed me to follow him in an IRS vehicle to Eagle River. I followed Mr Williamson to Eagle River in the government vehicle. Williamson dropped off his vehicle at a gas station in Eagle River. He told me that he was dropping off the car for his new girlfriend. From there he directed me to drive him to his home in Eagle River where he showed me around his house that he just repainted and grabbed some mail. After that, he said that he would be driving the IRS vehicle that had been assigned to me, and he drove for the remainder of the day. 17. After stopping at Mr. Williamson s house, we made a field call to a taxpayer as I had planned. Mr. Williamson then stopped to buy lunch and drove to Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 4 of 8

5 Mat-Su Regional Medical center, where Naquin worked. Williamson brought Naquin lunch and mail that he had apparently retrieved from his house. 18. After visiting Naquin at the hospital, Williamson and I went on another field call in for a taxpayer in Sutton, but no one was there. 19. As we were heading back to the office from Sutton, Williamson said that he needed to do something and veered off the route back to Anchorage. I realized that we were driving towards Dr. Lawson s hangars. Williamson asked me, do you know where we are going? and told me that he needed to check something out and that he thought that Tonya is still seeing Larry. He said that there was no way that she can afford living there, which I understood to mean that he thought Dr. Lawson was letting her stay there because they were dating. 20. As we arrived at the hangers, Williamson drove around back and said he needed to just check something out. He got out and looked in the windows, then got back in the vehicle and said that she didn't have a roommate as Tonya told him based on what he saw. He was visibly upset and angry. Then he drove to the front of the hangar where he parked. Then he said "what you are about to see, you never saw. I told him "don't get out of the car John. He put the vehicle in park and proceeded to make entry into the building using a push pad code on the front door. 21. Williamson was inside Dr. Lawson s hangar for several minutes. I did not see what he did while he was inside the hangar. 22. After we left Dr. Lawson s hangars, Williamson drove to another residence, then back to the office. During the drive back, he was angry, talking about Naquin and another woman who he had dated, and expressing his dislike for Dr. Lawson. 23. After returning to the office on April 4, 2012, I consulted internal guidelines on ethics and trusted colleagues. Those sources said that I had a duty to Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 5 of 8

6 report the illegal conduct by Mr. Williamson to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration ( TIGTA ). 24. I reported the incident the same day. I was advised by the TIGTA Agent, Jacqueline Siegel, that she would look into the matter, and that she had 120 days to investigate the matter. In August 2012 she and another IRS agent came to the Anchorage office where they interviewed Williamson. At this time he was made aware that I had turned him in for his conduct that day. I was then reassigned to work for Doug Hartford. When Hartford resigned in December 2012, I was reassigned to John Williamson's group as he was the only local group manager remaining. I endured 120 days of retaliatory and threatening actions from Mr. Williamson, through April It was in May 2013 that Mr. Williamson was punished for this conduct, and was put on Administrative leave for 30 days. I was notified from the TIGTA agent, Jacqueline Siegel, that they felt Mr. Williamson had not broken any laws, and he "just had a bad day. 25. In 2013, after Dr. Lawson was referred to CID, SA Rhame came to ask me questions about Dr. Lawson. I told her about John Williamson s entry into Dr. Lawson s hangar in April I also spoke about the incident with RA Michael Zeznock at some point after it happened. 26. I left the IRS in December In April of 2018, SA Rhame called me to tell me that she had a subpoena for me to testify at trial in August. I later met with her and asked her about how they planned to address the break-in of Dr. Lawson s hangar by Williamson. She told me that hopefully that doesn t come out. Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 6 of 8

7 I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Executed this 30 th day of May 2018 in Anchorage, Alaska. Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 7 of 8

8 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I declare that I am a citizen of the United States and I am a resident and employed in Orange County, California; that my business address is 903 Calle Amanecer, Suite 350, San Clemente, California 92673; that I am over the age of 18 and not a party to the above-entitled action. I am employed by a member of the United States District Court, and at whose direction I caused service of the foregoing DECLARATION OF AMBER KIMMEL on all interested parties in this action as follows: [X] BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION: by electronically filing the foregoing with the Clerk of the District Court using its ECF System pursuant to the Electronic Case Filing provision of the United States District Court General Order and the E-Government Act of 2002, which electronically notifies said parties in this case: Retta Rae Randall Assistant US Attorney RettaRae.Randall@usdoj.gov Timothy M. Russo, Trial Attorney US Dept. of Justice, Tax Division Timothy.M.Russo@usdoj.gov Lori A. Hendrickson, Trial Attorney US Dept. of Justice, Tax Division Lori.A.Hendrickson@usdoj.gov I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on May 30, 2018, at San Clemente, California. /s/ Garrison M. Giali Garrison M. Giali Case 3:16-cr TMB-DMS Document 233 Filed 05/30/18 Page 8 of 8