Federal Judge Robert Doumar yesterday told NBA referee
Jesse Kersey that he should "negotiate a guilty plea" in his
trial for felony tax evasion "because a jury is not likely
to be convinced by his defense," according to Lynn Waltz in
the Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT. Waltz adds that the "judge's
blunt advice ... may have implications for three other,
nearly identical cases involving NBA referees." Waltz
writes that defense attorneys "argued that the NBA should
have notified the IRS of the total amount of salary and
expenses provided to each referee instead of deducting the
value of airline tickets actually used to fly to games." So
far, four referees -- Kersey, Henry Armstrong, George
Toliver and Mike Mathis -- have been charged for down-
grading first-class airline tickets to cheaper fares, "then
pocketing the difference." Kersey and Armstrong "each
allegedly failed" to report about $30,000/year over a four-
year period. Toliver "allegedly failed to report about"
$47,000 in two years and Mathis "allegedly failed to report"
$69,000 over four years (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 7/24).
