He took it a Little too far

The Bellend of the Month for May 2012 is Michael Little. He is a lawyer with residences in England and New York, and he was indicted this month for tax fraud. Here’s how his story goes: the meeting of the Seggerman family at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel in New York in August 2001 was like many such gatherings of bereaved families: a patriarch had died and the children had come to discuss their inheritances. In this case, the patriarch was Harry G. A. Seggerman, a respected investment fund president who had died several months earlier at age 73, leaving his family more than $20 million. Now here’s where Mr. Little comes into this unholy picture: the meeting that day, attended by Mr. Seggerman’s widow and four of his children, took an unusual turn. Mr. Little explained that half of Mr. Seggerman’s estate was in Swiss and other foreign accounts, and he told them how they might keep the money hidden to avoid paying US taxes. The result was the hatching of a protracted tax fraud scheme involving Mr. Little and various family members. Mr. Little told family members how they could set up Swiss accounts and other entities with him and a Swiss lawyer, who would be paid annual fees for their services. He also explained how the family could bring money back to the United States in small increments using, for example, traveler’s checks. Mr. Seggerman’s eldest son, a businessman who worked at his father’s firm, also once proposed that his siblings use code words when discussing the plan. For instance, they would use the word “beef” when referring to money, “FDA” for the IRS, and “refrigerator” for certain accounts in which money would be held. This is just low. In addition to breaking the law by advising his American clients on how to break it themselves, that scumbag violated the most basic moral and ethical tenets of the legal profession. He is in it just as much as his clients, and he should be disbarred for it.