Civil and Criminal Federal and State Tax Controversy Matters

• Kentucky, 1988
• District of Columbia, 1989

• Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M., 1990, Taxation
• University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, J.D., 1988
• University of Kentucky, B.S., 1985, with honors
• • Outstanding Male Student Award

Robert has established a reputation as a litigator in civil and criminal tax litigation matters, white-collar criminal defense, and business litigation. Over the past twenty years, he has resolved thousands of civil and criminal tax matters at the federal, state and local level. Robert has worked at the Department of Justice Tax Division in Washington, D.C. while pursuing his Masters of Law (LL.M.) in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Robert has taught federal taxation of entities at Bellarmine College, authored the Criminal Tax Practice Monograph for the University of Kentucky College of Law and speaks annually at the American Bar Association Criminal Tax Institute.

Robert is a member of the firm's white collar group and tax controversy and litigation practice group. He has represented taxpayers in tax controversy matters from Connecticut to California.  Robert has handled civil and criminal tax cases throughout the United States.  He regularly represents clients in civil and criminal tax controversies before the IRS and in the United States Tax Court, United States District Court and the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals. He has led the defense of federal and state criminal offenses at the investigatory, grand jury, and trial levels in such areas as criminal tax fraud, mail and wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen goods, criminal and civil RICO, healthcare fraud, criminal antitrust, money laundering, gambling, and environmental matters.  Robert regularly conducts internal investigations for public companies involving computer fraud and document destruction issues, and designs and implements records management systems.

SIGNIFICANT CASES & CONTROVERSIES

• Was part of a trial team defending a former Commonwealth of Kentucky public official that obtained a Judgment of Acquittal in a highly publicized political corruption and tax fraud case.
• Represented the owner of a construction company in a federal criminal tax trial. This involved delinquent employment taxes for a construction company.
• Defended a CPA who was accused of conspiring with his client to commit money laundering.
• Represented a bank president who had allegedly violated federal bank fraud statutes. This involved a bank president who was duped into loaning millions of dollars to an unscrupulous family.
• Worked closely with Alan M. Dershowitz and John Cline in multiple federal tax fraud and money laundering trials involving a successful business man. Convinced the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a tax fraud conviction.
  
• Led the pre-trial defense of the largest search warrant case in the history of Kentucky. The case involved two hundred agents who executed a federal search warrant on a ten-story office building. The Government seized all computer and electronic data. The United States District Court issued an order requiring the government to copy the documents and return them to our client. The federal agents worked twenty-four hour shifts copying and returning the business records.
• Negotiated successful plea agreements involving mortgage fraud in which the defendants were accused of brokering millions of dollars in fraudulent residential and commercial mortgage loans throughout the United States.
• Served as lead trial counsel in a three-day United States Tax Court trial. The case involved the ability of S-corporation shareholders to deduct losses to the extent of their stock basis. Back to back loans, economic substance and business purpose was at issue in the case. The taxpayer is a large multi-unit franchisee owner.
• Represented a franchisee convenient store owner in a two-day hearing that required the defendants to remove Uniform Commercial Code liens that had been wrongfully filed against the store.  The liens prohibited the owner from selling his million dollar convenient store.
• Negotiated a plea agreement for the owner of a jet aircraft transportation company who had allegedly placed millions of dollars in offshore Cayman Islands bank accounts. This involved the validity of offshore entities and the implications of offshore bank accounts.
• Served as second chair trial counsel to a closely held company that manufactures paint and related products in a very complicated environmental crimes case.
• Defended a multi-million dollar wholesale company in United States District Court that had been charged with diverting baby formula between California and New York.
• Argued in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for the reversal of a United States Tax Court decision, in which the Tax Court had ruled that the client had waived the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations by failing to specifically assert the affirmative defense in his United States Tax Court petition. The client had raised the defense in attachments to his petition.
• Defended a major hospital and health care organization in an investigation involving alleged health care fraud and over billing.
• Performed an extensive internal investigation for a public company involving potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and issued a full report to its chief executives.
• Conducted an extensive internal investigation involving an alleged kickback scheme involving a public company and its subsidiaries.
  
• Defended a doctor in a Medicare and Medicaid fraud trial. The government alleged that the doctor had intentionally up-coded his Medicare and Medicaid billings in order to receive more money from the government.
• Represented a distinguished tax lawyer who was under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice Tax Division involving an alleged "Klein" conspiracy.
• Assisted in obtaining an order, forcing tax shelter promoters to repatriate money from a Canadian bank account.

STATE AND LOCAL TAX EXPERIENCE

• Represented multiple individual and corporate taxpayers through the state audit and appeals function, before the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals and in state court.
• Negotiated the complete abatement of a multi-million dollar intangible property tax assessment against a publicly traded company.
• Resolved a motor fuels excise tax assessment against a fuel distributor in excess of $1,000,000 for $5,000.
• Resolved a multi-million dollar tangible property tax assessment against a publicly traded biotech company and worked to enact a legislative exemption for certain biotech property.
• Resolved a multi-million dollar tangible property tax assessment against a publicly traded metals producer.
• Resolved a significant sales and use tax assessment against a manufacturer of environmental equipment.
• Resolved a significant Louisville Metro Occupational License Tax assessment against an out of state investment partnership.
• Resolved a substantial local insurance premium tax assessment against a national insurance company.
• Resolved a substantial utility gross receipts license tax assessment against a publicly traded manufacturing company.

SIGNIFICANT EQUINE CASES AND CONTROVERSIES

• I have structured a cutting edge equine syndication related to breeding and racing activities.
• Defended a horse breeder in an Internal Revenue Service audit. 
• Defended an equine breeder in a hobby loss case relating to his farming activities.   
• Currently in the process of pursuing a civil RICO claim against ClassicStar and its principals relating to a thoroughbred mare lease arrangement.
  
• Currently defending taxpayers from around the country in equine-related Internal Revenue Service audits relating to passive activity losses, at risk limitations, and Internal Revenue Code Section 162 deductions.

• Selected for inclusion in Kentucky Super Lawyers® 2008-2011
• The Best Lawyers in America®, Tax Law,  2007-2011, Litigation & Controversy - Tax 2012
• AV® Rated, Martindale-Hubbell®
• Business First's Forty Under 40 recipient
• Louisville Bar Association 1991 Pro Bono Award

• Legal Aid Society Campaign, Past Steering Committee, Member
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Kentucky Bar Association, Member; Tax Section, Past Chairman
• Louisville Bar Association, Member, Taxation Section, Past Co-Chairman; Pro Bono Steering Committee
• Kentucky Council on Economic Education, Board Member
• National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA)
• American Bar Association
• District of Columbia Bar Association

• Introducing the Tax Litigation Blog

Past

• Western District of Kentucky Federal Community Defender Board of Directors, Member
• Greater Louisville Sports Commission Board of Directors, Member
• St. Matthews Little League Baseball Board of Directors, Member
• LBA Santa's Court Toy Drive for the Salvation Army, Founder
• U.S. Law Firm Group's Tax Section, Member and Representative
• Junior Achievement Board of Directors and Leader of the Junior Achievement Free Enterprise Center Capital Campaign, Past Member
• City of Rolling Fields, Past Treasurer

Practical Ethics for Tax Executives
Tax Executives Institute, Inc. - Kentucky Chapter
Louisville, Kentucky, October 20, 2011

Circular 230 and Due Diligence
The Kentucky CPA Journal, Issue 6 2010

20th Annual Ohio Tax Conference
Does the Economic Substance Doctrine Create New Civil and Criminal Risks for Tax Practitioner? Columbus, Ohio, January 28, 2011

University of Kentucky College of Law 11th Biennial Real Estate Law & Practice Institute
Tax Traps for Real Estate Professionals
November 11, 2010
Lexington, Kentucky

Healthcare Financial Management Association
Practical Ethics for Healthcare CPAs
October 15, 2010
Lexington, Kentucky

Kentucky Society of CPAs
How to Handle Employment Tax Audits
Summer, 2010
Louisville, Kentucky

Kentucky Society of CPAs
Practical Ethics for CPAs
Summer, 2010
Louisville, Kentucky

What You Need to Know about Current IRS Attacks on Equine Activities
Robert C. Webb, Frost Brown Todd
J. Christopher Coffman, Frost Brown Todd
Lexington, Kentucky , April 28-29, 2010

6,000 Employment Tax Audits:  will it be you?
Robert C. Webb, Frost Brown Todd
Anthony Arcidiacono, Ernst & Young
Cincinnati, Ohio, March 9, 2010
Louisville, Kentucky, March 10, 2010

Implementing a Records Retention Program
Lorman Education Services, March 10, 2010

Kentucky Society of CPA's Professional Issues Update
August, 2009, Prestonsburg
August, 2009, Ashland, Kentucky
September, 2009, Corbin, Kentucky
October, 2009, Owensboro
October, 2009, Bowling Green, Kentucky
November, 2009, Louisville, Kentucky
November, 2009, Paducah, Kentucky
November, 2009, Madisonville, Kentucky
November, 2009, Lexington, Kentucky

Updated Best Practices for Legal Holds in Civil, Criminal, and Business Contexts
Lorman Education Services, November, 2009

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2009
Fall of 2009, San Francisco, California

Implementing a Records Retention Program
Lorman Education Services, October 29, 2008

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2008
Fall of 2008, Washington, D.C.

Implementing A Records Retention Program
CPA Associates International, Information Technology Seminar, Chicago, Illinois, July 21, 2008

Electronic Document Discovery: The Rules Have Changed
Midwest Archives Conference, Annual Meeting, Louisville, Kentucky, April 17, 2008

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2007
Fall of 2007, Washington, D.C.

How Companies Can Avoid Disaster by Implementing a Records Retention and Data Management Program
Lorman Education Services, Louisville, Kentucky, April 200

ARMA Presentation on E-Discovery
Lexington, Kentucky, February 2007

Avoiding Traditional Obstruction of Justice Statutes While Conducting Corporate Internal Investigations
Ohio Tax Institute, December 2006

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud 2006
October 2006, Washington, D.C

The Internal Revenue Service: Everything You Always Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask
Lorman Education Services, Louisville, Kentucky, September 2006

Records Management and the Law
The Frankfort-Bluegrass ARMA Chapter, Lexington, Kentucky, May 25, 2006

Frost Brown Todd IMeD Seminar
Frost Brown Todd LLC, Louisville, Kentucky, April 2006

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2005
October 2005, Washington, D.C.

Records Retention: Designing an Effective Records Retention Program
October 2005

Great Lakes Federal Tax Institute, Lorman Education Services Seminar
Cleveland, Ohio, May 2005

Responding to Information Requests from the Government
UK/CLE Business Associations Law Institute-Program Faculty, February 2005
Handling Investigations by Government Authorities
Business Associations Law Institute, Louisville, Kentucky, February 18, 2005

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2004
October 2004, Washington, D.C.

Designing an Effective Records Retention Program
Kentucky Society of CPAs, September 2004

ABA National Institute on Criminal Tax Fraud Panel 2003
Fall of 2003, Washington, D.C.

Moderator: ‘‘Current Trends in D&O Insurance," Executive Summary of the U.S.A. vs. Arthur Anderson LLP case
Corporate Responsibility Institute Harvey Pitt Presentation, July 2003

The New "Patriot Act" Provides the Internal Revenue Service with More Financial Information Regarding Your Business and Personal Life
Louisville Bar Association CLE, March 2002

Corporate Records: Your Biggest Asset or Trap for the Unwary?
Corporate Counsel’s Records Retention Report, January 2008

Taxing Returns
Business First of Louisville, January 25, 2008

Corporate Records Your Biggest Asset or Trap for the Unwary
Business First, March 2006

Sports Suites Can Foster Team Spirit for Local Businesses
Business First, February 2006