An recently ousted tax attorney for a New York wealth management firm that caters to the rich and famous has been charged with lying to the federal government about $48,000 in campaign contributions to the Hillary Clinton for President Committee. Evan H. Snapper, who resigned Wednesday as a principal at Anchin, Block & Anchin, was charged with a single count of making false statements.
According to the two-page document, Snapper’s action caused the Hillary Clinton campaign “unwittingly to file materially false reports” with the Federal Election Commission. The report falsely showed that 21 people known to Snapper had contributed a total of $48,000 to the Hillary Clinton for President Committee in 2008, when in reality, “as Snapper well knew, the contributions were made by Person A.”
Person A was not identified in the court documents.
Snapper was charged in D.C. federal court “by information,” which generally means that a plea deal is in the works because the charge won’t be filed without the defendant’s approval.
A spokesman for Anchin said Snapper resigned effective Wednesday.
“Anchin deeply regrets the events that occurred that led to this conclusion,” managing partner Frank A. Schettino said in a statement.
Immediately upon discovering Snapper’s action, the firm initiated its own internal investigation, then reported the results to federal authorities, Schettino said.
Snapper could not be reached.
According to the Anchin Web site, Snapper specialized in business management and planning services for “ultra high net worth individuals, entertainers, key corporate executives and foreign nationals.”
Last year, famed crime writer Patricia Cornwell sued Anchin, and singled out Snapper for the loss of $40 million. In her lawsuit, she claims Snapper told her the company would “do everything for its clients including buying and delivering their toilet paper.”
After she fired the accounting firm, she found a number of misdeeds, including writing a check from a Cornwell account as a bat mitzvah gift for Snapper’s daughter, “whom Ms. Cornwell has never met,” the lawsuit states.
