KPMG allowed to withhold documents in tax case
Certain documents will not be part of subpoena request
In the tax shelter case involving a group of former KPMG partners, a
Manhattan federal judge has signed a protective order allowing KPMG to
keep confidential some documents that the defendants had attempted to gain
access to.
A hearing today will see US district Judge Lewis A. Kaplan hear any
objections to the protective order and to decide whether to quash a portion of
the subpoena.
Under the order, parties can only use the documents in relation to the
criminal case.
Earlier this week the judge signed a subpoena ordering KPMG to turn over certain
documents after the former partners asked the accounting firm to turn over
documents related to its policies on providing its employees legal fees.
Sixteen former KPMG tax partners and two other individuals are charged with
conspiracy and tax evasion, in a scheme which is alleged to have cost the Inland
Revenue Service $2.5bn (£1.4bn), making it the one of the biggest tax cases in
US history.
Last August, KPMG agreed to pay $456m (£255m) as part of a deferred
prosecution agreement with the government, in which it admitted to committing
fraudulent conduct in the design and marketing of certain tax shelter