Buck Reed Motion to Continue

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

SOUTHERN DIVISION ____________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, No. 1:13-cr-00130 vs. Hon. Janet T. Neff

U.S. District Court Judge FREEMAN CARL REED, a/k/a BUCK, Defendant. _____________________________/

MOTION FOR A CONTINUANCE OF THE SENTENCING DATE Defendant Freeman Carl Reed, through counsel, respectfully requests that the

sentencing date be continued from the presently-set date of August 13, 2014 for ninety

days, or such other date after that convenient to the Court. Sentencing in this case has

been postponed twice, once as a scheduling matter for the Court and once at the request

of the undersigned to provide time to respond to certain matters in the Presentence

Report. Counsel realizes that a third continuance, particularly at the last minute like this,

is likely to be looked upon with initial disfavor but it is respectfully submitted that it

should be granted because of the unusual circumstances stated below, which are quite

promising to those who have lost money.

Pursuant to the Local Rules, counsel informs this court that AUSA Clay Stiffler

does not join in this motion and prefers that the sentencing go forward as scheduled.

We advance two reasons for this request which we state summarily and then

explain.

Case 1:13-cr-00130-JTN Doc #115 Filed 08/08/14 Page 1 of 8 Page ID#908

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First, there is a substantial probability that additional restitution will become

available to make those persons who lost money whole if an additional ninety days is

allowed.

Second, counsel was informed today by email that the government wishes to

present 45 exhibits and testimony of an IRS agent concerning those exhibits all by way of

disputing the tax return computations which resulted in the tax return amounts on the tax

returns which have been finalized by Buck and Renee Reed and which, in accordance

with the instructions of the government, have been completed, signed, and sent to Special

Agent Birdsong. (See, Freeman Carl Reeds Memorandum in Support of His Motion for

Variance or Downward Departure, and Submitted Generally for Sentencing Purposes,

Docket No. 111, p. 3, herein referred to as Reeds Memorandum in Support.) Counsel

simply cannot prepare in the short amount of time between now and next Wednesday to

refute the testimony and the exhibits, and cannot secure the attendance of the accountant

who prepared the tax returns at issue and have him present at a hearing next Wednesday

ready to present our position on the tax returns and to justify the figures which are hugely

lower than the government computations due and owing.

As to the first reason, time to make restitution, Buck Reed has already paid

$150,000.00 toward restitution by cashier's check deposited with the Clerk of this Court

on todays date (See, Exhibit A, a copy of the check and cover letter sent to this Court.)

As Buck Reeds sentencing brief, filed two days ago on August 6, 2014 indicates, he had

been working on getting parties together to arrange funding for a movie which is going to

be made in Europe. (Reeds Sentencing Memorandum, p. 2-3.) The contract took longer

than anticipated but because of his efforts in working on the contract, now consummated


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as a movie production contract for a childrens movie to be produced in Europe, he has

earned a payment for his efforts. (Id.) Of that payment, he has already been paid

$150,000.00, a sum that arrived in the trust account of the undersigned yesterday, and

that money on his instruction was converted to a cashiers check and sent to the Clerk of

the Court (attached here as Exhibit A.) As indicated, it has been received by the Court.

(Id.) The undersigned expects to have an additional $80,00.00 to deposit with the Court

by next Tuesday. For the particulars of the arrangement by which this money was earned

by Buck Reed, see Exhibit B attached hereto which is a letter which in part describes the

contract which resulted in this payment to Buck Reed.

Exhibit B, the letter, also explains why there is a substantial probability that in an

additional 90 days, Buck Reed will earn substantially more money that can be used to

make further restitution.

The restitution that has already been made, the undersigned submits, should be

sufficient demonstration that Buck Reed is serious about making repayment.

Opportunities to do so come when they do and while it would certainly be better if this

could have been done sooner, everyone is better off if Buck Reed gets the time to make

the effort to earn more restitution money, particularly since the representation that he is

likely able to do so is supported by the fact that he has already made one significant

payment and the indication is that more will be coming. It is pointed out in this regard

that the government routinely delays sentencing of a defendant who has pleaded guilty if

that defendants testimony is needed in the trial of a co-defendant. Delaying sentence for

any legitimate purpose is not extraordinary, the delay sought is not for an extended

period, and the reason for it is unarguably worthwhile.


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The second reason why a postponement is sought is that just today the

undersigned received notice that the government plans to call an IRS agent and through

that agent introduce forty-five (45) exhibits. These will be offered, apparently, in an

attempt to refute the tax computations and the amounts stated to be due and owing on all

of the tax returns that Buck and Renee Reed have prepared and now have submitted to

the IRS. As is shown in Buck Reeds Sentencing Memorandum, he has prepared returns

for all but two of the years for which returns were outstanding, meaning that he has

prepared, signed, and submitted returns for the years 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008,

2010, 2012, and 2013 (the tax return for 2005 was previously completed by another

accountant and has been filed), and they have filed the years 2010 and 2012.

(Defendants Sentencing Memorandum, p. 6.) The government claims that Buck Reed

owes $565,509.00 in federal income taxes and interest and penalties of $568,219.00

(Governments Sentencing Memorandum, Docket No. 109, p. 1), coming to a total of

$1,133,728.00. (Id.) However, according to Buck Reeds accountants calculations, the

total amount of federal income taxes owed is $21,836.00, although this figure does not

include penalties or interest. (Sentencing Memorandum, Exhibit B.) Regardless of the

amount of penalties and interest, the amount of taxes due and owing alone differs by an

amount of $546,673.00.

Clearly, the large difference in tax computations should be sorted out and, in

fairness to Buck Reed, time should be allowed for his accountant to review the exhibits

which were announced this morning but not apparently deliverable until Tuesday of next

week for that review to commence. And even if they could be delivered sooner than next

Tuesday, as AUSA Stiffler indicated he would try to do, when we pointed out this


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morning that receiving these exhibits next Tuesday was way too late for a hearing the

next day, there is in either event not enough time to prepare a counter-witness, meaning

Buck Reeds accountant. Moreover, Buck Reeds accountant, William Timothy, has

other things on his schedule that would preclude him being ready by next Wednesday.

Mr. Timothy is the primary caregiver for his wife who suffers from dementia, along with

other health problems. He is located in Pleasant Grove, Utah and simply cannot come to

Grand Rapids to testify on this short notice for a sentencing hearing next Wednesday,

August 13, 2014.

Neither Buck Reed nor his counsel mean to suggest that the government is

springing exhibits at the last minute unfairly. The governments tax computations were

set forth in the final presentence report which was prepared June 9 and revised July 30,

2014. (Governments Sentencing Memorandum, Docket No. 109, p. 1.) Its tax figures

were arrived at, thus, and available to Buck Reed as of June, 2014. (Id.) However, Buck

and Renee Reed and their accountant did not complete work on the tax returns they have

filed until last week, at the beginning of August 2014. (See, Reeds Sentencing

Memorandum, Exhibit B.) Therefore, the government did not know of the large

difference in the tax computations until then. Equally, the defense did not know of the

large difference in tax computations until the finalized tax returns last week could be

compared to the governments much higher figures. If the government is going to contest

the figures presented on these tax returns on the now finalized Reed tax returns, the

defense should have a reasonable time to prepare a rebuttal and to have the Reeds

accountant who prepared these returns available in court to defend them. This simply

cannot be done by next Wednesday.


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Obviously, it will not require the defense 90 days or anything like that amount of

time to review the forty-five exhibits announced today by the government and to prepare

a defense to the figures proposed by the government as allegedly bolstered by the forty-

five exhibits, and certainly with even a two week extension that preparation could be

completed and a date could be found for the accountant to be present. However we

submit that because of the promise of more restitution we respectfully ask for the full

ninety-day postponement.

If this court is not inclined to grant the large postponement of ninety days but is

inclined to grant the shorter extension to prepare a refutation of the governments

presentation once the exhibits are disclosed to the defense, we respectfully inform the

Court that counsel commences a trial in the Middle District of Georgia on September 2,

2014 which is scheduled to last five days, commences a trial in state court in New York

on September 16, which is scheduled to last four days, and commences a trial in tax court

in Boston on September 29, which is scheduled to last three days, and counsel alerts this

court that those settings are unfortunately immutable. In addition, Mr. Timothy, Buck

Reeds Utah-based accountant, is unavailable from August 22 29, 2014, as his wife will

be undergoing brain surgery.

In conclusion, the undersigned recognizes that Buck Reed has had years to make

the restitution that he is now making. It could well be wondered why this is happening

now. While this is a fair concern, we respectfully submit that it should be overridden

given the stakes for the persons whose money was lost. The best argument for this

continuance, in light of the demonstrated restitution already made as that reinforces the

probability of future restitution, is the statements found in the Amended Presentence


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Investigation Report of the persons who lost money. (Amended Presentence Investigation

Report, Docket No. 113, pp. 15-20.) Surely it is worth waiting one last time if the

potential result is an alleviation of their pain. Buck Reed has met all of his reporting

obligations, is nonviolent, and it is submitted that there is no good reason not to allow this

continuance.

It is also respectfully requested that if the Court is going to delay sentencing for

either of reasons explained above, it consider doing so before the hearing itself.

Whenever the sentencing takes place Buck Reeds family, some of his business

associates and friends, and even some of those who gave money to the venture, wish to

appear to support him. This request is not intended to be presumptuous or in any way

disruptive of the Courts need to consider this matter fully, however we point out the

obvious savings and avoidance of inconvenience if this matter can be determined before

people have to get on planes. And again, counsel regrets the last-minute motion here but

counsel was and remains of the view that a request based upon promised restitution

would only be favorably considered by this Court, given the facts of this case, if it was

made after a substantial restitution sum was in hand and had been paid over to the Clerk

of the Court, which despite all efforts to get it done sooner, only occurred this morning.

Dated: August 8, 2014 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ John J.E. Markham, II John J.E. Markham, II (Mass BBO No. 638579) Attorney for Freeman Carl Read MARKHAM & READ One Commercial Wharf West Boston, MA 02110 Tel: (617) 523 - 6329


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Fax: (617) 742 8604 [email protected]


Case 1:13-cr-00130-JTN Doc #115-1 Filed 08/08/14 Page 1 of 3 Page ID#916

Documents

Buck Reed Motion to Continue