CHICAGO (AP) — Federal prosecutors seeking to put the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies in prison for hiding millions in Swiss bank accounts told appellate court judges Wednesday that the toymaker’s sentence of probation threatens to erode the judicial system’s ability to deter other tax evaders.
The hearing before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago delved into whether H. Ty Warner got off too easy given the lengths he went to conceal his crime, or whether the judge was right to essentially deem the misdeeds to be out of character for someone with a substantial record of charitable giving. While prosecutors rarely appeal sentences, they contend that the trial judge in this case inadvertently sent the message that there are different standards of justice for the rich and the poor.
