Internal Revenue Service

Trois Mec Update: Tickets Sold Out Try Again Next Friday

If you were one of the many foodists in this town who set your alarm, made coffee and fired up the laptop in time to score tickets (or try to) for Trois Mec's first round of reservations, congratulations! Or not. We're told that tickets sold out in about two hours -- although since people could "loc ... More >>

How a $45,000 Oscar Gift Bag Is Born

Each golden Oscar statuette costs about $500 to make, although of course its monetary value ends up being more than that. But for those nominees who don't get that particular golden ticket, Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will give them something pleasant to wake up to -- a swag ... More >>

Do Kickstarter Bands Have To Pay Taxes? Accountants Aren't So Sure

Boy band Allstar Weekend are Poway's answer to One Direction. The San Diego county-bred group got its start on the Disney Channel music competition Next Big Thing back in 2009. They took second place on that show, but the exposure helped the band ink a four-album deal with Hollywood Records, book a ... More >>

Bertolli Sponsors Emmy Swag Suite for Celebs

It used to be easy to shower celebrities with lavish gifts. Back in the good old days, companies put together gift baskets worth tens of thousands of dollars that they gave to presenters and other celebrities attending awards shows such as the Oscars and Emmys. Then those spoilsport Feds decided t ... More >>

How a Dominatrix Does Her Taxes

Of all the painful activities a dominatrix can take part in, there is none quite so torturous as taxes. It is the first day of DomCon, the annual gathering of sadists and the masochists who worship them, and a handful of novice dominatrixes sit in one of the depressing, fluorescent-lit rooms in ... More >>

Awkward: CSU Presidents Receive Pay Raises at Apocalyptic Meeting on Budget Cuts

Two doomsday scenarios were laid out by the California State University Board of Trustees at today's meeting: If the state cuts CSU funding by $250 million next fall, as it has promised to do if voters don't agree to the governor's proposed tax hike, the university system will either have to 1) rais ... More >>

Woodys Toys' Money Laundering Scheme Funneled $6 Million in 'Narco Cash,' Feds Say

With a name like Woody's Toys, it has to be good. Good meaning bad. At least according to federal authorities, who this week threw the book at two co-owners, three employees and two clients of the City of Industry toy wholesaler for allegedly doing way more than importing toys. A two-count indictm ... More >>

Might As Well Forget About Filing Those Taxes--L.A. Way Less Likely Than Anywhere Else in California to Prosecute IRS Cases

Tax Day is upon us, which means the procrastinators, feet draggers, and general deadbeats among us have until midnight to report their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service. If you haven't filed yet though, we suggest you keep your money. What's the worse that could happen? Okay, so, technically ... More >>

Oaksterdam Marijuana Raid Happened As 7 Were Shot At Nearby School: Critics Rip Feds

Monday's federal marijuana raid on Oaksterdam University in Oakland happened on the same day that a man opened fire at a nearby college campus, killing 7. That fact hasn't been lost on critics, who are railing against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the IRS f ... More >>

Oaksterdam University Raid 'Payback' For California's Marijuana Legalization Effort?

The man who bankrolled California's closest shot yet at fully legalizing marijuana, Prop. 19, saw his Oaksterdam University cannabis college in Oakland raided by federal authorities yesterday. And pot advocates are fuming. The Drug Policy Alliance suggests the raid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Adm ... More >>

California is The Richest Place on Earth

Haters like to say that L.A. is turning into Mexico City and that California's golden days are long past. Well, we hate to break it to you, but happy days are here again. At least for the rich of the Golden State. California ranks number one ...

Sunset Junction Owes Nearly $1 Million to Artists, IRS and the City, According to Bankruptcy Filing

When the Los Angeles Board of Public Works refused to grant permits to the Sunset Junction Street Fair in August, hundreds of unpaid bills were left littered in the canceled festival's wake. The city wished to be paid up front for costs associated with the street fair; festival organizers scrambled, ... More >>

Obama's War on Weed

In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees

Millionaires Don't Pay Taxes? 1,470 of America's Richest Didn't, According to IRS

MatMA free ride for some millionaires?​Southern California has more millionaires than just about anywhere else in the nation, with L.A. coming in at No. 1, Orange County at No. 4, and San Diego ranking No. 6 in cities with the most seven-figure-plus households in 2008. So maybe we should feel ... More >>

James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, Rap Manager Allegedly Responsible for 1994 Tupac Attack, Arrested

James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond​As just reported by Dennis Romero on our news blog, The Informer, James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond was apprehended this morning in New York. Rosemond was collared this morning after a foot chase near Park Avenue and 21st St., a federal official told the Weekly. ... More >>

Read in Peace

Tax Day Blues: Super Rich Pay Low Tax Rate; Some, Like the Dodgers' McCourts, Don't Pay at All

Frank McCourt is poorer than you (on paper).​Ah, tax day. Don't let the complicated line items and nonsensical deductions get you down. That's all gravy compared to this fact: Nearly half of U.S. households don't even pay income taxes. And the super rich are paying less than they did a few y ... More >>

Lina in L.A.: Other Than Coachella ...

Barry Minkow and Nicolas Marsch III Conspired and Manipulated FBI to Ruin Lennar Stock; Feds Reveal Details

Barry MinkowBy Beth Barrett Barry Minkow, mastermind of the ZZZZ Best carpet cleaning fraud 25 years ago who claimed redemption as a fraud buster and pastor after leaving prison, conspired with a San Diego developer to "artificially manipulate and depress" national home-builder Lennar Corp.'s stock ... More >>

IRS Targets California Pot Shops: Your Business Expenses Are no Good With Uncle Sam

Is the IRS gunning for shops like the infamous K.F.C?​It's an issue that will face folks in L.A. March 8: To tax pot shops or not? The L.A. City Attorney's office says a city tax on dispensaries would be illegal because the businesses are supposed to be nonprofit (and thus tax exempt) in the ... More >>

Burning Issue: L.A. Times Passes on City Medical Marijuana Tax

Green for parks and libraries?​And you say we're the party poopers when it comes to coverage of L.A.'s marijuana scene? Take a look at Sunday's Los Angeles Times. The paper's dead against the March 8 ballot measure that would let the city tax medical pot shops. Just say no, argues the Times. ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Chinese Coffee, Daddy, Love, Sex and the IRS

Also, Fatigued, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Greedy and more

Highest-Paid University of California Bosses Throw Tantrum Over Lowly $250,000 Pension Cap

Smart BusinessUCLA Associate Vice Chancellor David Feinberg is among the 36 six-figure execs demanding a higher pension​The University of California has been just barely scraping by in this economic depression, consistently raising tuition for students and slashing course offerings like weeds. ... More >>

Man Who Promoted Lavish Lifestyle Through Tax Avoidance Nabbed For ... Tax Avoidance

​A Southern California tax advisor who used TV infomercials to sell his books and videos about how to avoid paying taxes has plead guilty to what amounts to ... avoiding paying taxes. (Again, don't try this at home, kids). Dana Ray Reynolds of Huntington Beach pleaded guilty this week to fili ... More >>

Happy 'Report An Illegal Day,' L.A.

nsm88.comThose people.​Sorry to be a Buzz Killington here, but don't blame the messenger: The group that staged a sparsely attended and beat-down-prone white-supremacist rally in downtown Los Angeles on April 17 has declared Cinco de Mayo "Report An Illegal Day."

Chef Rich Mead's Canyon Restaurant To Open In Anaheim Hills

Rich MeadCanyon: Coming Soon​What you might not know about Rich Mead, longstanding chef-owner of Sage in Newport Beach, is that he used to work for the IRS. Ya, another tax collector goes tuna tartare. So it seems appropriate that Mead closed his other restaurant, Sage on the Coast, just two d ... More >>

WTF: IRS Agent Indicted For Allegedly Filing False Tax Returns

​An U.S. Internal Revenue Service agent was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on charges that he allegedly filed false tax returns and helped others do so as well. He was already under indictment on suspicion of threatening federal agents who served a search warrant on his home in San ... More >>

Jerry Brown Issues Warning About Shady Tax-Relief Schemes

​State Attorney General Jerry Brown on Tuesday warned Californians to avoid tax-relief firms that ask for up-front fees to wipe out back taxes owed to the IRS. He said many of the outfits -- which charge up to $3,000 for their services -- are "phony" and "provide no actual relief." "Every tax ... More >>

Tax Preperer Sentenced For Helping Clients Score Unreal Deductions

​A Gardena man who told clients he was a former Internal Revenue Service worker and found them too-good-to-be-true deductions was sentenced to six years in federal prison Monday in part for costing the government $2.7 in tax revenue that he illegally shaved from customers' returns through thos ... More >>

Cheap Mexican Labor? Marry a Teenage Mexicana

Pot Pharmacies Raided, Dog Shot

The L.A. Times reports that federal and local law enforcement agencies raided a pair of Westside medical marijuana pharmacies today, along with the homes of their owners. In one of the raids a pit bull was shot although, according to the Times report, it is expected to fully recover. It's unclear wh ... More >>

Mastergate

Theater Reviews: Lovelace: A Rock Opera, U.S. Drag, How Cissy Grew

Also, Torn Between Two Bitches, Love's Old Sweet Song and more

¡ask a Mexican! Special Día De Los Impuestos Edition

Social Security, identity theft and why the Feds couldn't care less

Keith Clark

Wild in the spreadsheets

Hearing Voices

In the new Will Ferrell comedy, the truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Not So Fast, Antonio

L.A.’s role in farm deal contains a shovel full of legal questions

Essential Reading

Provided by the United States Government

Hey, Donald, You Should Be Fired

The Apprentice’s host, like so many big-shot CEOs, is a big, fat fraud

Disorder in the Court

Major Pains

Charlotte Caffey and Anna Waronker find relief in independence

Tax Free Speech

Pro-industry Frontiers of Freedom challenges Rainforest Action Network’s tax-exempt status

Kicking Assets

Crisis catches state utilities counting cash

Filthy Lucre

And stirring conscience

American Movie Classic

Clouds Over Sunset

Street fair may have outgrown its community roots

Foreign Trade

Back to bartering for goods and services

Virtual Gangs

Lap dancers

Lap dancers win right to be treated as employees

The Smoke Police