U.S. judge denies dismissal of charges in KPMG trial
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has denied a motion to dismiss charges against two former executives of KPMG accounting firm in their closely watched tax shelter trial, lawyers said on Wednesday.
The trial, which began on October 15 with opening arguments in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will resume on Monday with the jury present.
Lawyers for former KPMG tax partner Robert Pfaff and former senior tax manager John Larson argued in court on Tuesday that the government had changed its theory mid-trial for indicting them and that was grounds for dismissal.
Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the motion to dismiss the charges or declare a mistrial, lawyers for the defendants said.
Larson and Pfaff are among four accused in a case that has been closely watched by legal experts as its outcome could have an impact on the U.S. government's continuing investigations into questionable tax shelters.
The other defendants are former KPMG tax partner David Greenberg and Raymond Ruble, a former partner at law firm Sidley Austin.
In opening arguments last month, prosecutors said the former KPMG accounting firm employees cheated the U.S. government out of hundreds of millions of dollars by selling improper tax shelters for wealthy clients between 1996 and 2005. The case was touted as the largest criminal tax prosecution when it started in 2005 with 19 defendants.
(Reporting by Grant McCool, editing by Matthew Lewis)
