Justice Department Lawsuit: Roger Stone Owes Almost $2 Million in Unpaid Taxes

By Daniel Politi, Slate

18 April 21

oger Stone, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, and his wife owe almost $2 million in unpaid taxes and fees, according to a Justice Department lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that Stone and Nydia Stone had been notified of their tax bill, which includes interest and other fees, but they had “failed and refused to pay.” According to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Stone and his wife underpaid their taxes by $1.59 million from 2007 to 2011 and then did not pay $407,036 in taxes in 2018. The couple used accounting maneuvers, including setting up a commercial entity, to “shield their personal income from enforced collection and fund a lavish lifestyle despite owing nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties.”

Stone started falling short on paying his taxes in 2007, when he failed to pay a $205,410 tax bill that later increased to almost half a million dollars. Stone and his wife later sealed a deal with the IRS in 2017 to pay $19,485 every month to pay down their debt. But then in 2019, Stone set up a trust and used money that should have gone to pay the IRS to pay for a house in what amounted to an effort to “defraud the United States,” according to the lawsuit. “They purchased the residence shortly after Roger Stone’s indictment and placed it in the name of the Bertran Trust just prior to defaulting on their installment agreement with the IRS,” the filing alleges. “The Stones have long owed back taxes, and they have been parties to numerous installment agreements, some of which were terminated by the IRS. They were aware that their default would result in IRS collection activity.”

That purchase took place as Stone faced a criminal indictment that accused him of lying to Congress regarding his actions during the 2016 campaign to try to dig up dirt on Hillary Clinton, Trump’s rival. He was later found guilty of all seven counts against him, including making false statements and witness tampering. He was sentenced to 40 months behind bars. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence when he was on his way to prison in July 2020.

Stone characterized the lawsuit as political, claiming the case “is motivated by blood lust and liberal hysteria.” Stone claims he and his wife were working to pay off their tax bill but then the cost of defending himself “financially destroyed” them and they are now “virtually bankrupt.” He vowed to “fight these politically motivated charges,” which he characterized as “yet another example of the Democrats weaponizing the Justice Department in violation of the rule of law.”