American Tax Officer-Chapter 623 - 314: The Long-Awaited Trial
Chapter 623 -314: The Long-Awaited Trial
After Kepel had left, David’s phone on the desk rang. He picked it up to see it was Donald calling and immediately answered, “Deputy Director Donald.”
“David, the Amazon incident has been very influential, and major media moguls have put a lot of pressure on us. We’ve decided at the headquarters to let the media in this time, let them see our fair and open punishment!”
In the past, the Internal Revenue Service did not allow media access to court hearings because many cases were difficult to convict under judicial procedures, to avoid causing public controversy, thus opting for closed trials.
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However, this time, just the issue of hidden taxes alone was enough to nail the Amazon Group, so conducting the trial publicly is more favorable for the IRS in terms of both image and public opinion.
“Understood, I’ll arrange it right away!”
After hanging up the phone, David immediately got Kepel involved and instructed, “Spread the word to the media, this trial will be broadcast live!”
Los Angeles IRS entrance.
A spokesperson came out and said to the media gathered there, “Please quiet down and listen, to ensure the fairness and openness of this hearing, we will be broadcasting it live. I will now select a few of the media to enter the courtroom…”
“What, the Internal Revenue Service is actually allowing a live broadcast this time.”
“This is great, we can hear for ourselves where exactly Amazon violated local tax laws, and also see the embarrassing appearance of those high-level executives of the Amazon Group!”
“Los Angeles IRS must be very confident, having decided to broadcast live, Amazon is likely in big trouble!”
Upon hearing this announcement from the Los Angeles IRS, the media and citizens on social platforms all buzzed with excitement.
Do they want to see the real-time footage of the courtroom?
Of course, they do.
And what are they most looking forward to?
Of course, seeing the expressions and demeanor of Jeff and other high-level executives of the Amazon Group after the charges are proven.
Let them witness how these once high and mighty figures behave when convicted and possibly facing prison, seeing if they exhibit crumbling behavior.
As the media and the public were still discussing, inside, the high-level executives of Amazon also got the news, with Jeff’s face turning frighteningly dark.
He had come here personally and even requested to meet David, but David did not see him, which was one matter, but releasing the signal to the media that they could broadcast indicated something else entirely.
It meant that while the Los Angeles IRS may not be 100% sure of convicting them, they were at least 80-90% sure, which spelled big trouble!
In his lifetime, Jeff had faced numerous severe challenges, but he believed this situation might be the biggest crisis he had ever encountered!
After a few minutes of silence, Jeff finally took out his phone and quietly made several calls in the corner…
The time reached 12:20 PM.
The hearing was set to start at 12:30 PM, and only 10 minutes were left, so many invited guests had already begun entering the seventh-floor courtroom.
By this time, the media invited for the live broadcast had also set up their cameras, ready to broadcast every detail of the scene live.
When the time reached 12:25 PM, David, who had just come from the judge’s office, also arrived at the scene.
He looked around the spectator seats and noticed that there were quite a few significant figures from both the political and business sectors present today, including Governor Bogwana of California, the Deputy Governor, the Secretary of State, and members from both chambers of the legislature.
His gaze finally met those of Amazon Group officials sitting in the lower right corner, and they unabashedly met his gaze as well, with Jeff’s particularly somber and even resentful.
However, David did not pay much attention and proceeded to take his seat in the Los Angeles IRS designated area.
As the clock struck 12:30 PM, Judge Nicola, dressed in a judge’s robe, emerged from the right corridor, as everyone in accordance with procedure stood up.
“Bang, the case of Amazon suspected of tax violations is now in session!”
With Judge Nicola’s gavel falling, the audience and those watching also immediately focused.
“The prosecution from the Los Angeles IRS, please come forward to speak!”
David stood up from his seat, walked to the podium with a document, and said, “As everyone knows, Amazon has not paid a dime in taxes over the years, but I believe many are unclear about how they accomplished this. I need to explain, first, they relied on a policy called ‘Value-Added Tax Reduction,’ as the name suggests…”
“So that’s how…”
“After Director David’s explanation, I finally understand Amazon’s tax evasion maneuvers…”
After his explanation, those watching the live broadcast and were not very clear about tax matters finally understood.
They said, how could Amazon manage not to pay taxes for so many years? It turns out they were exploiting this policy.
“Alright, now to the crux, although value-added tax reduction is indeed a tax policy of our Internal Revenue Service, if companies use this to avoid taxes according to the procedures, the IRS, although losing a lot of tax revenue, wouldn’t mind. However, if companies clearly do not meet the standard for value-added tax reduction yet continuously misuse this policy for years, then our IRS can’t afford to be short-changed by it forever, can it?”
