ANOTHER ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERALANNOUNCES DEPARTURE FROM JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
KEBSC...@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOVTAX
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888
Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O'connor
Announces Departure from Justice Department's Tax Division
WASHINGTON - Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the
Justice Department's Tax Division since 2001, has announced her
resignation, effective the end of June. President Bush nominated Ms.
O'Connor to the position on May 24, 2001, and the Senate confirmed her
appointment in July of that year. As Assistant Attorney General for
the Tax Division, Ms. O'Connor has been a member of the President's
Corporate Fraud Task Force.
In her resignation letters to President Bush and to Attorney General
Gonzales, Ms. O'Connor thanked them for the privilege of serving as
Assistant Attorney General, and said, "It has been an honor to be a
part of the Department of Justice, and to lead the Tax Division's
nearly 600 attorneys and other dedicated professionals through these
very challenging times in tax enforcement."
During her tenure, Tax Division attorneys represented the United
States in thousands of civil and criminal cases in federal trial and
appellate courts across the country, achieving results that, among
other things, identified the promoters and purchasers of illegal tax
shelters, collected billions of dollars in federal income taxes that
otherwise might have been permanently avoided, identified people and
businesses using offshore banks to hide their income and assets from
the Internal Revenue Service, enjoined hundreds of tax scam promotions
and fraudulent tax return operations involving hundreds of thousands
of customers and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax fraud, and
sent tax evaders and those conspiring with them to prison for
substantial terms. During this time, the Tax Division has also won
hard-fought trial and appellate litigation that is turning the tide in
the government's favor against the sophisticated tax shelters that
have been aptly called a cancer on our tax system. Assistant Attorney
General O'Connor herself represented the United States in oral
argument before the United States Supreme Court and the United States
Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits.
"Lee O'Connor has served the Department of Justice and the American
people with distinction and honor," said Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales. "For six years, she has been tireless in her enforcement of
the nation's tax laws, particularly in prosecuting tax fraud. Her
success in this and other areas have been a credit to the Tax Division
and a tremendous benefit to the United States. I am grateful for her
service and wish her well."
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Cheers,
WDK