As many have heard recently, Michael Sorrentino (of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” fame) and his brother Marc were indicted for tax crimes in New Jersey and made their initial appearance in court last week.
At this point, no one but the Sorrentinos, their lawyers and maybe the government really know what happened. In my opinion some of the charges look a bit questionable. For instance, there was a single charge of failure to file a tax return. Clearly, it is a crime to fail to file a tax return. However, with just a single instance of failing to file there is no pattern. There are probably very legitimate and innocent reasons why the failure occurred.
The focus of this blog, however, is on the dangers of social media. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are powerful tools and can be great for marketing. However, they are also great ways for a person to incriminate themselves.
One of Mike’s recent Instagram posts was “To Be Old And Wise You Must First Be Young And Dumb.” This post may be completely innocent – but why do it?
The IRS is no fool – they love to research their targets’ social media posts. Oftentimes, this can be a central component of their case.
There is a reason why attorneys tell their clients to clam up – nothing good generally can come from talking. Any statements that are made need to be well thought out.
My advice is to stop posting anything if you are under investigation.