Milton H. Olender v. United States

BARNES, Circuit Judge.

This is a criminal prosecution for income tax evasion. Appellant was convicted on four counts charging him with wilfully attempting to defeat and evade federal income taxes by filing false and fraudulent returns. Counts 1 and 3 had reference to his own 1945 and 1946 income tax returns; counts 2 and 4 to his wife’s 1945 and 1946 income tax returns, which he prepared.

The government relied on the "net worth method” of establishing guilt. This required the government to show “with reasonable certainty” the opening net worth of appellant as of December 31, 1944, his net worth…