There is a difference between not knowing the law and relying upon the advice of professionals in an attempt to comply with the law. I do not practice in the area of criminal law, and do not profess to have an expertise therein. However, I do recall appearing in federal court several years ago as a defense witness in a criminal prosecution for a defendant charged with numerous counts in an indictment including various types of fraud and tax evasion. The defense counsel had taken the position that their client had relied upon my advice and therefore lacked mens rea as is required in criminal actions.
On the tax matter at issue upon which I had testified there was a federal case squarely on the defendant's side in which the court had ruled that an employer's obligation to pay employment taxes could not be delegated. The defendant was a payrolling service. The function of writing the checks could be delegated to a payrolling service. However, the obligation to pay the tax could not and remained with the employer. The jury did not buy the argument, and convicted him. However, I was later informed that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found error in the conviction, and reversed the trial court in a number of the counts in the indictment. Unfortunately he had spend several years in prison by that time.
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