- 39 - conformity with the use of the same term in 18 U.S.C. section 2516, to mean crimes or criminal conduct. However, respondent is not using the contents of the intercepted communications in this proceeding as proof of tax evasion or some other tax offense. To the contrary, respondent is using the intercepted communications in these civil tax cases to satisfy the Commissioner's burden of proof with respect to the fraud addition under section 6653(b)(1) and (2). This is a civil, not a criminal, penalty. Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391 (1938). We acknowledge that it might also be possible to use the intercepted communications as evidence of one or more tax crimes but that is not the use to which they are being put here. We do not believe that 18 U.S.C. section 2517(5) is violated by disclosure of the intercepted communications in a civil proceeding by reason of the fact that the same communications could theoretically be used to prove offenses other than those originally specified. See United States v. Campagnuolo, supra at 1214-1215. It is difficult to perceive how 18 U.S.C. section 2517(5) would be violated in these cases, in view of the fact that the Government does not seek to use the intercepted communications as evidence of a tax offense. See United States v.Page: Previous 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011