Persistent Tax Failures Draw Indefinite Suspension

The Maryland Court of Appeals has indefinitely suspended an attorney for tax crimes

This Court has recognized that not only is the “willful failure to file returns and/or to pay personal income taxes [] a crime under both federal and Maryland law” but that the “repeated failure to timely file tax returns is a serious violation of the [MLRPC].” Attorney Grievance Comm’n v. Tayback, 378 Md. 578, 587, 588, 872 A.2d 158, 164 (2003) (observing that the Comment to MLRPC 8.4 begins “Many kinds of illegal conduct reflect adversely on fitness to practice law, such as offenses involving fraud and the offense of willful failure to file an income tax return.” Id. at 588, 872 A.2d at 164.). The Court has plainly declared that the repeated failure to file tax returns “is a dishonest act” in violation of Rule 8.4. Attorney Grievance Comm’n v. Atkinson, 357 Md. 646, 655, 745 A.2d 1086, 1091 (2000). Moreover, a “conviction for tax evasion is not a necessary predicate to support a finding of dishonesty.” Id. at 655-56, 745 A.2d at 1091…

Respondent first testified in open court during a family law-related proceeding in August 2014 about his failure to comply with his tax-related responsibilities. Nearly three years later, at the disciplinary hearing in April 2017, Respondent still had not resolved—either by paying or by entering into a payment plan—his outstanding tax liabilities.

Further, in some of the years that Respondent failed to file and pay his taxes, he requested and received extensions for filing his returns. Despite receiving extensions to file, Respondent continued to not file his returns. Respondent’s persistent failure to file and pay his federal and state taxes over a continuous span of seven years constitutes a dishonest act in violation of Rule 8.4(c).

Finally, Respondent’s willful failure to file returns or pay his taxes from 2008 through 2015 is a violation of Rule 8.4(d) as conduct that is “prejudicial to the administration of justice because ‘it cheats and defrauds the government.’” Worsham, 441 Md. 105, 130, 105 A.3d 515, 530 (2014) (recognizing that although an attorney’s willful failure to file or pay tax returns does not cause direct harm to a client, the act itself is “prejudicial to the administration of justice because it ‘cheats and defrauds the government.’”) (quoting Maryland State Bar Ass’n v. Agnew, 271 Md. 543, 551, 318 A.2d 811, 816 (1974)). “By willfully failing to file his tax returns, a lawyer appears to the public to be placing himself above the law.” Attorney Grievance Comm’n v. Baldwin, 308 Md. 397, 407-08, 519 A.2d 1291, 1297 (1987). At a minimum, the conduct with which Respondent is charged—the repeated failure to file his tax returns— “reflects adversely on a lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness and fitness to practice law.” Atkinson, 357 Md. at 655, 745 A.2d at 1091. 

Sanction

Petitioner’s recommendation that Respondent be indefinitely suspended from the practice of law with the right to apply for reinstatement after one year is entirely consistent with our case law.

Capital Gazette reports that the attorney was a State Senator. 

Giannetti was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1998. Then he ran and won election to the state Senate in 2002 in District 21. In 2006, Giannetti was defeated in the Democratic primary by now state Sen. Jim Rosapepe, but when the Republican dropped out of the general election race, Giannetti switched parties to run but was defeated.

Ironically, Giannetti earned national attention when he applied the Heimlich maneuver to Rosapepe who was choking on a piece of fish at an Annapolis restaurant as the 2006 primary was gearing up.

(Mike Frisch)