Kenneth Crawford Jr. was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government, presenting false claims for refunds, and incorrectly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the internal revenue laws.
According to court records, he counseled his clients to fraudulently file tax returns based on an “mortgage recovery scheme” in the amount of $1.3 million in fraudulent tax refunds. He claimed to be an expert on a number of matters and targeted people who were struggling to pay their mortgages. He charged a fee in exchange for claiming fraudulent tax refunds. He even created false tax forms. The IRS eventually caught on but he continued his scheme while attempting to conceal his involvement from them.
For these crimes, he received 70 months in prison.
He recently appealed his case and says that the court lacks jurisdiction. He also tried the following arguments, none of which worked:
• claimed he was not the person named in the indictment because his name is not spelled all capital letters (“I, Kenneth-Paul: Crawford-jr.,© . . . am not Kenneth Crawford Jr.”)
• claims that jurisdiction of the federal courts is not derived from the US Constitution but instead it derived from the “Trading with the Enemy Act” and the Patriot Act
• claims that federal laws only apply to the District of Columbia, federal enclaves and federal employees only
• argues that the jurisdiction of the courts is limited to “only maritime law jurisdiction”
• because he is “at peace with all men” he claims that the federal government lacks jurisdiction over him
The court noted that these claims are frivolous and rejected them.
You can read more here.