Internal Revenue Service

Ron Calderon, State Senator, Had His Offices Raided After the FBI Searched Newport Beach and Long Beach Properties of Campaign Donor

When a breaking news event sucks up every amount of Los Angeles teevee news attention--take Friday's nightmare at Santa Monica College, for instance--I find myself hoping for an Orange County angle so not to waste all that background noise listening I do in between making typos.Another recent news e ... More >>

Surprise: Orange County Businessman & Prosecutors Differ On Whether Income Taxes Are Mandatory

Poor Brian Fox. Fox, who once lived in a $2.3 million house in the city of Orange, must have forgotten that we can't outrun death or the IRS. From 2005 to 2007, the businessman earned approximately $2.5 million in the financial-services industry, but claimed he couldn't afford to pay about $335,00 ... More >>

The Five Worst Reasons to Open a Restaurant

Every second and fourth Wednesday night of the month, legendary bartender/chef/restaurant insider Dave Mau hosts Dinner with Dave at Memphis at the Santora, where he treats drinkers to a free meal and live music as the evening progresses. To remind ustedes of this great night, Dave treats us ev ... More >>

Five Songs That Make Kathleen Madigan Want to Drive Her Car Off a Bridge

Kathleen Madigan has done a lot in her comedy career, from entertaining the troops overseas to amusing audiences across the States to winning awards for being a kickass comedian. She has brought plenty of laughs to late-night TV, radio shows, and comedy CDs and specials. Since we figured she clearly ... More >>

Federal Prosecutors Are Winning Bribery Cases Against OC Businessmen Who Cheated Panasonic

Federal prosecutors in Southern California have won a guilty plea from a New Jersey-based Panasonic employee who accepted bribes from Orange County businessmen seeking to cheat the Japanese conglomerate out of millions of dollars. Sean Volin--a supply manager in Secaucus, New Jersey--violated f ... More >>

[UPDATED with Artist Clarifying Work's Value:] Igor Olenicoff, Laguna Beach Billionaire, Sued by Sculptor Over Chinese Knock-Offs of Art

See the update at the end of this post where the artist claims the value of one piece cited in the original post is nearly triple what was reported. ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 10, 11:07 A.M.: The last time we checked in with Igor Olenicoff, he was being sued by an IRS whistleblower the Laguna Beach billio ... More >>

Five Songs To Get Lindsay Lohan Through Jail Time.

Ohhhh, Lindsay Lohan. There is so much we can say about this hot mess of a chick but really, is there enough time to express it all? Not in this lifetime. After a slew of bad choices like stealing, lying, horrendous driving, and committing tons of wardrobe felonies, Lindsay's latest debacle includes ... More >>

Doug DeCinces, Former Angel Who Paid $2.5 Million to Settle Insider Trading Suit, Now Faces Possible Prison Time After Indictment

Los Angeles Dodger and Baltimore Oriole Hall of Fame first baseman Eddie Murray agreed in August to pay $358,151 to settle a federal lawsuit tied to an insider-trading tip he received from his buddy and former teammate Doug DeCinces.On Wednesday, the former Oriole and California Angel third baseman, ... More >>

Professional Tax Preparer Wins Prison Trip For IRS Cheating Scams

As a professional tax preparer, Mark Joseph Jensen didn't just help steal money from the U.S. Treasury by falsifying tax returns in the name of his clients. Jensen also secretly diverted client refunds into his own bank account and didn't bother to file income tax documents for himself during severa ... More >>

Shann Mou Lee Faces Up to 3 Years and Nearly $70k in Penalties For Filing False Tax Returns

Under a plea deal, a Garden Grove business owner who built small electronic airplane parts for C5 cargo planes and F18 fighters copped this morning to tax fraud.Shann Mou Lee, 69, of Buena Park, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with subscribing to a false income ta ... More >>

Igor Olenicoff, Billionaire Tax Felon, Has UBS Influence Excuse Confirmed by Whisteblower

Bradley Birkenfeld helped the wealthy dodge taxes, went to prison and is now reportedly getting $104 million from the IRS for whistleblowing on some clients. Among them: billionaire Igor Olenicoff, who lives in Laguna Beach and oversees Olen Properties real estate in Newport Beach. Interestingly, Ol ... More >>

Rich Mead's Sage Restaurant Takes Fight With Landlord Public

Rich Mead, the self-described "IRS paper pusher" turned chef/restaurateur, is now in a public struggle with his landlord, The Irvine Company, to renew the lease on his Newport Beach restaurant. Sage, which has been in business at Eastbluff Village Center in Newport Beach for the last 15 ye ... More >>

Ex-NFL & USC Star Johnnie Morton Jr. Sentenced For Federal Grand Jury Lies in Orange County

Former University of Southern California and Detroit Lions football star Johnnie Morton, Jr. faced up to five years in prison for repeatedly lying to a federal grand jury in 2009, but caught a break this morning in Santa Ana.U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney, a onetime football star himself ... More >>

Anti-drug Pamphlets Linked to Scientology Gone From Santa Ana Police Department

It appears that drug-prevention literature connected with the Church of Scientology will no longer be distributed by the Santa Ana Police Department. Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, the department spokesman, said he was told that "none of the brochures we talked about" are being passed out by the ... More >>

U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Review Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona's Corruption Conviction

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused a request by Mike Carona, Orange County's onetime mighty sheriff turned federal-prison inmate, to review and possibly overturn his January 2009 corruption conviction.The high court's April 30 decision essentially leaves Carona in his federal-prison cell in Colorado ... More >>

UPDATED with Capture: Federal Judge David O. Carter Orders Posse to Find Fugitive Brad Keith Lee

​UPDATE: Acting on the orders of a pissed off federal judge in Orange County, law enforcement officials this month arrested Brad Keith Lee in Washington state for probation violations; now he'll face the unhappy judge at a future date.ORIGINAL POST: 3/7/2012: David O. Carter is undoubtedly Orange ... More >>

Irvine Credit Card Swindler Learns Benefit of Aiding U.S. Secret Service

​An Irvine man arrested in 2006 by a federal Orange County Identity Theft Task Force after stealing more than $400,000 in a credit card fraud scheme is being released from custody after he pleaded guilty.Douglas Scott Frey, who was 36 years old at the time of his arrest, committed crimes that trig ... More >>

Dave Gilliard, OC Sheriff's Adviser, Caught in "Shady" $840,000 Scheme

​Dan Morain, one of the true jewels of mainstream journalism in California, has tied a key campaign adviser to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Congressman Ed Royce and state Assemblyman Jim Silva to a "shady" effort to smear Sen. Barbara Boxer in the 2010 election.Veteran political consultant Dave Gillia ... More >>

Is the Register's Martin Wisckol Part of the Liberal Media Campaign to Build Up and Then Tear Down Michele Bachmann?

​Is Martin Wisckol one of the liberal media meddlers a right-sided journalism watchdog warned us about?Let us seek the clues in a recent write-up by the Orange County Register political reporter on one Michele Bachmann.

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: Man Shot During Confrontation With Robbers Comment by KSLIMINOC4: At least it wasn't another stabbing. Comment by RALLYMONKEYROCKS: Nuke SANTA ANA! Turn it into a sandpit.

Nativo Lopez Slammed by Court For Calling Frozen Food Company "Racist"

Nativo Lopez​Nativo Lopez, Orange County's most controversial political activist, helped organize a 2009 protest against a Southern California frozen food company and distributed leaflets branding the business a "racist employer" because it fired almost 300 warehouse workers who'd provided fake So ... More >>

Rev. Robert Schuller Wants Your Money For His Wild Spending

Schuller: Maybe those $45 hamburgers were too much.​It was only a matter of time before millionaire Rev. Robert H. Schuller of Garden Grove's Crystal Cathedral was once again seeking charity from those less fortunate than himself.Yep, he's got an incredibly comfortable life and he wildly spent mor ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Will Maid's "Explosive Allegations" Sink Meg Whitman's Latino Outreach?

​UPDATE: New details throughout . . . Billionaire Meg Whitman exploited a Latina housekeeper the GOP nominee for California governor knew was in the country illegally, alleged celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred this morning, setting off an array of charges and counter-charges.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Nod Enlivens Upstart Philip L. Liberatore's Race to Unseat Rep. Gary Miller

Photo by Beth StirnamanSheriff Joe Arpaio (right) stumps for Orange County sheriff candidate Bill Hunt last November.​Teabaggy sheriff wannabe Bill Hunt is apparently not the only Orange County candidate "Toughest Sheriff in America" Joe Arpaio is squarely behind.

The Humane Society and Big Agriculture Slug It Out Over Animal Rights

Sheriff's Poll: Sandra Hutchens In Big Lead

John GilhooleySmile Sandy Smile​The first public poll of voter support in the Orange County sheriff's race found that Sandra Hutchens is far in the lead but significantly short of winning the necessary 50 percent plus vote to avoid a November runoff, according to the Voice of OC.

Prosecutors Enthusiastically Endorse Sheriff Sandra Hutchens

Prosecutors: Hutchens deserves to win sheriff's race​Out on the campaign trail it often looks like Dana Point's Sandra Hutchens doesn't enjoy politics, but today the appointed sheriff has reason to smile after receiving the "enthusiastic and unconditional endorsement" of the Association of Or ... More >>

Toody Cole of Pierced Arrows on Hanging with Eddie Vedder and Being Rock's Coolest Grandma

Pierced Arrows perform at Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, Thurs., March 25, 9 p.m. $10. 21 .​Fred and Toody Cole have been married since 1967 and have spent most of the past 25 years playing music together, first as the Rats, then as legendary Portland garage punks Dead Moon (legendary as in Pearl Jam of ... More >>

Ex-Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl Gets Slap; Dirty Cops Get Threat

Don Haidl, from his assistant sheriff days.​Even during the five years that he held the unearned rank of assistant sheriff thanks to illegally funding Mike Carona's 1999 campaign for sheriff, Don Haidl hated public speaking. Reporters could ask questions of Haidl--a wealthy Newport Coast used car ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Barbara Coe Continues To Hate Muslims--And Now, Sikhs?!

This month's meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform promises to be a blast, and not just because it's always a funhouse whenever CCIR head Barbara Coe (recently described by frequent commentator Baxter as "a spent cigarette butt with arms"--HILARIOUS) opens her gnarled mouth. Mus ... More >>

Saint Mike Carona?

"He worked hard for you. He was a tireless worker. He worked all the time. He did great things. He helped at-risk kids and he did so much for the vulnerable people in our community." --Exasperated, red-faced lawyer Jeffrey Rawitz (pictured) wrapping up an eight hour closing argument today in h ... More >>

Is OC GOP Shill Jon Fleischman Goofy, a Moron and a Shakedown Artist too?

Don Haidl: Is somebody paying that goofy bastard [Jon Fleischman]? Mike Carona: Big bucks. Big bucks. You and I had a difference of opinion on him. I just think he was a moron on his best day, but . . . Well, apparently . . . (Laughs) They're willing to pay morons a lot of money because I was probab ... More >>

OC Homewreckers Hung Out to Dry

According to a Department of Justice press release and reported by the Register, Charles Head, a 33-year-old from La Habra and several accomplices have been charged with illegal activities purportedly using the latest mortgage scam to come through the pipeline. One can only expect more scams to ... More >>

Parents Television Council Loves TBN, Is Full of It

Tomorrow, those boob tube rubes known as the Parents Television Council will impart its Entertainment Seal of Approval™ (their trademark, not our lame irony) on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. "We commend the TBN Networks for upholding the positive values that families hold dear," states a PTC ... More >>

Friday's Headlines & Surprises: Why Did the Mayor Quote Mein Kampf at South Coast Plaza?

Look! Up in the Sky! It's SuperFascist! Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor jumped into a phone booth, ripped off his Orange County Sheriff greens and donned something that would make him, at least outwardly, a man of substance: a fine suit, tie and shiny shoes. Yep, yesterday at a ceremony to celebrate ... More >>

OC Preacher Casts Death Spells!

Serena Maria Daniels should find garlic cloves to place around her neck. This morning, the Register reporter broke the news that Buena Park minister WIley Drake is looking to cast evil, lethal spells on his perceived enemies. What's got Drake pissed this time? Apparently, he's angry with two staff ... More >>

Fight the War Against the War on Drugs

Protest the failing war on drugs at noon on Friday, Sept. 29, at the Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana. Yesterday in Modesto the DEA raided the California Healthcare Collective, a medicinal marijuana dispensary. From the Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a pro-medipot NPO: The Modesto medical cannabi ... More >>

A Most Taxing Situation

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration P.O. Box 589 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044-0589 Dear TIGfTA: How goes the number crunching, amigo. Say, just wanted to drop you a line about something I read recently about you folks at the IRS coming down hard on the former Rector Geor ... More >>

Diary of a Mad County

Pop Will Eat Itself

The movies that stopped living and became mixed-up zombies

The Disorder at the Border

Rating the sides in the April 1 Arizona-Mexico border free-for-all

Call Me Back, Cupcake

Jive, Jerk, Wobble and Jerry Lee Lewis

Skot Armstrong

A long and harrowing account of how and where the artist grew up

Its All Right That Popes Were Laying the Nuns

President Nixon answers your religious holiday queries*

Letters

Space Cowboy

20 reasons why I love Willie Nelson

Cox Proposes $6,000 IRS Loophole!

You just have to be a rich white guy to get it

Garry Quite Contrary

Past catches up with OC CoastKeeper Brown

Ron Packard, Military Whore

Beneath the South County Congressman's Mr. Vanilla exterior beats the heart of an old-fashioned, log-rolling, back-scratching, pork barreling special-interest pol