A key witness takes center stage today at the federal tax fraud trial of New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams.
Admitted tax cheat Henry Timothy is set to testify. He worked for Williams and his law partner Nicole Burdett.
All parties agree he filed fraudulent returns for Williams and Burdett. The issue for jurors to decide is if the defendants knew what Timothy was up to when he didn't report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.
In opening arguments, the defense insisted Timothy claimed to be a certified public accountant with a masters of business administration, but he was not. Timothy’s letterhead was presented in court showing it falsely says he is a CPA.
Williams and Burdett argue this is a case about misplaced by "two individuals who did not know any better."
The feds, meanwhile, told the jury that Timothy was simply doing the bidding of two lawyers who were well aware he was committing criminal acts on their behalf.
The government intends to introduce evidence that Williams and Burdette even had discussions with Timothy about the best way to hide their income from the IRS.
