WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department on Friday sued Donald Trump’s ally Roger Stone, accusing the conservative provocateur and his wife of failing to pay nearly $ 2 million in income tax.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It claims the couple underpaid their income taxes by more than $ 1.5 million from 2007 to 2011 and individually also claims to owe Stone more than $ 400,000 for not paying his tax bill in full in 2018.
The lawsuit alleges that the couple used a commercial entity known as Drake Ventures to “ protect their personal income from forced debt collection ” and to fund a “ lavish lifestyle. ”
“Despite cancellation and request for payment, Roger and Nydia Stone have failed and refused to pay the full amount of the obligations,” the lawsuit said.
Stone, an old confidant of the former president, calls the lawsuit “politically motivated.”
Stone was indicted by the Justice Department in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and was convicted at trial of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness, and blocking the House’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. Trump later commuted Stone’s sentence and pardoned him.
Stone boasted during the 2016 campaign that he was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through a trusted intermediary and hinted at foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release more than 19,000 emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee’s servers. to give. But Stone denied any wrongdoing and consistently criticized the case against him as politically motivated.
“The Internal Revenue Service is well aware that my three-year fight for freedom against the corrupt Mueller investigation has left me penniless,” Stone told The Associated Press. “They are well aware that I have no assets and that their lawsuit is politically motivated. It is particularly interesting that my tax attorneys were not notified of this action, which was filed on Friday at the end of the business day. The American people will be told in court that I am on the verge of bankruptcy and that the government cannot take any assets. “
Jill Colvin, Associated Press author, contributed to this report.