By A.J. Cook

Internal Revenue Service agent Lawrence S. Plave denied he said Daniel N. Heller, an attorney, was "unscrupulous." But he admitted characterizing Heller as a "despicable human being."

The battle between the two was to rage 12 years.

Heller had represented the now-defunct Miami News when it broke a sensational story about the IRS. According to the newspaper, IRS agents zeroed in on judges, lawyers and politicians as part of an overzealous IRS project dubbed Operation Leprechaun. As news leaks precipitated negative publicity, the luck of the IRS soured, and agents descended on Heller's office demanding the paper's source. This meeting ended with Heller having a heated exchange of words with agent Thomas A. Lopez, head Leprechaun.

Four years later, Lopez and Plave turned up among investigators of Heller's tax return. They challenged the lawyer's accounting method.

Heller had delayed reporting as income some of his receipts. Money received as retainers and other advance payments was deposited in a separate trust bank account. He postponed paying the tax on this until he completed the work.

The IRS said this money became taxable when deposited. The erroneous reporting and Heller's intentional deception, the agency argued, was tax evasion. Heller was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.

He appealed saying that during deliberations jury members had made ethnic slurs toward him and his witnesses. The government said these comments were made in jest and did not affect the jury's verdict. The appeals court disagreed, saying racial humor is, by its very nature, an expression of unacceptable prejudice. It remanded the case to the lower court.

Before the second trial, Heller sued Plave for inappropriate conduct. Some of Heller's clients testified that when the agent interviewed them, he said he would get Heller and made derogatory remarks about Heller: Heller charged exorbitant fees and was "unscrupulous." Plave disavowed the statements, but conceded characterizing Heller as a "despicable human being."

The court said the comments were improper and showed "a lack of integrity." It awarded Heller $1,000 for each of 13 statements.

Meanwhile, Heller was tried again. As part of his defense, he said Leonard Safra, his accountant, approved his method of reporting income. If true, it meant Heller relied on the advice of an expert, thus his use of that accounting method could not be criminal. Heller was quite surprised when Safra testified he was unaware of the delayed reporting.

Heller was again convicted and again appealed. This time he argued that, because of the vendetta of agents Plave and Lopez against him, they influenced Safra's testimony. Heller said they threatened Safra, saying the accountant could end up being a "defendant in a criminal case." Then later, Safra's attorney called Heller to say his client would testify for the IRS, that the accountant would rather be a witness than a defendant. Plave admitted he tried to scare Safra. The conviction was reversed.

Heller, vindicated at last, moved to the offensive. He sued Safra, and said he settled for the accountant's insurance limit of $5 million. Heller than sued Plave and Lopez for depriving him of the accountant's testimony. Heller said the IRS settled by paying him $500,000.

Heller had spent hundreds of hours in court battles and even served four months of the three-year sentence. But, he said that's bearable because the money from the IRS was his long overdue "apology."

The Moral: With persistence -- justice prevails.