PROVIDENCE - A prosecutor argued today that reality TV star Richard Hatch didn't report his Survivor winnings to the IRS simply because he's greedy, while Hatch's lawyer portrayed his client as an honest man who made mistakes.
Digital Extra
The Newport resident's tax-fraud trial wound down in U.S. District Court as lawyers spent about two hours presenting their closing arguments to the jury.
The jurors began their deliberations this afternoon, then wrapped up for the day after almost two hours. They will return to the task at 9 tomorrow morning.
As he left the federal courthouse today, passing a gauntlet of reporters and photographers, Hatch whistled an unidentifiable tune -- as he has almost every day since the trial began two weeks ago.
Hatch, 44, was charged in a 10-count indictment, claiming that he didn't report more than $1 million in prize money for winning the popular reality show's first season, among other income, and also directed money to himself from a charity he established.
"There's one reason he filed that return", said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Reich, without reporting that income. "Greed. He didn't want to pay the taxes he owed."
Christopher Minns, a lawyer for Hatch, claimed that Hatch's tax troubles resulted from mistakes by Hatch and others.
"Honest people do the best they can, and they make mistakes every day," Minns said.
John MacDonald, another lawyer for Hatch, argued that Hatch had good intentions in setting up Horizon Bound, an outdoor adventure program for children.
He said it didn't make any sense for a man who had just won $1 million and had a lot of other income opportunities to go to the trouble of setting up a charity so he could defraud it for $35,000.
Hatch gained fame -- and notoriety -- as the self-described "fat, naked guy" on the Survivor show. Its contestants, in a primitive island setting, schemed to become the sole winner of a $1 million prize by overcoming challenges and avoiding being voted off the island by fellow members of their "tribe."
This time, the maximum penalties for the charges Hatch faces are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the two counts of tax evasion, the two counts of wire fraud and the four counts of mail fraud; three years in prison and a $100,000 fine for filing a false S-Corporation income tax return; and 30 years in prison and a $1-million fine for bank fraud.
Hatch could be sentenced to a maximum of 73 years in prison and $3.1 million in fines, if he were convicted on all 10 counts and the judge ordered him to serve the sentences consecutively.
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