Quiel and Kerr’s false conviction in 2013 was for the crime of willfully filing false tax returns; Kerr was also found guilty of failure to file Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) forms. In utterly every case of tax fraud, the defendant owes a tax debt. However, at Quiel and Kerr’s sentencing hearing, US Federal Judge Teilborg ruled that the Government failed to prove any tax due, stating, “…the Government has failed to carry its burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, much less by clear and convincing evidence, that the tax loss exceeds zero.”
