Michael J. Little v. United States

Petitioner, a green card holder who returned to the United Kingdom in 1983 but later resided temporarily and conducted some business in the United States, was tried on charges of (i) helping U.S. family members avoid income and estate taxes on inheritance repatriated from overseas trusts, (ii) subsequently abetting declarations that repatriated sums were gifts rather than trust distributions, (iii) failing to declare personal “foreign” FBAR accounts and file U.S. 1040 tax returns.

1. Whether the indictment was constructively amended to add additional undeclared “overseas” accounts not among those specifically identified on the ground that the Second Circuit allows such amendments deemed outside the “core of criminality,” in clear conflict with Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 218

2. and multiple circuits forbidding amendment of specified allegations?

3. Whether an overseas green card holder could “willfully” fail to report “foreign” accounts to the IRS when during the relevant time period such obligation only applied to a “United States resident” and was only amended to apply to “lawful permanent residents” barely in advance of the filing deadline?

4. Whether a conscious avoidance instruction on tax counts is appropriate on the mere basis that a defendant challenged at trial that he had actual knowledge that his conduct violated the law but without proof that he took deliberate steps to avoid such knowledge as required by multiple circuits and this Court’s decision in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A., 563 U.S. 754, 769 (2011)?