Defendant bites back, sues IRS

In March of last year, a curious lawsuit was filed in superior court against the Internal Revenue Service; the plaintiff was "John Doe Company." Now, two healthcare-related publications, Healthcare IT News and Modern Healthcare, have identified the suing enterprise: Chula Vista's Three Rivers Provider Network.

In June of last year, a federal grand jury indicted Blaine Pollock of Three Rivers on multiple counts of tax evasion, conspiracy, and filing fraudulent tax returns. I have a copy of that indictment. Between 2006 and 2011, Pollock is charged with stashing money in two extremely dubious tax havens: Liechtenstein and Gibraltar.

For example, between 2005 and 2009, Three Rivers transferred $3.8 million to a Gibraltar trust, according to the indictment. Between 2005 and 2010, he transferred big bucks to Liechtenstein, too — almost $4 million to Liechtenstein in 2009 alone. He also sent Three Rivers money to domestic accounts for his own purposes, such as to buy homes and two yachts, according to the indictment.

In March of last year, before the indictment, the John Doe Company suit was filed in superior court, charging that the IRS, without a search warrant or subpoena, took the medical records of 10 million Americans, none of whom were under known criminal or civil investigation.

The IRS refused to return the records, according to the suit, which charges the federal agency with violation of the Fourth Amendment, among other things. A judge has ruled that prosecutors can look for evidence in the seized data.