7 Financial Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

[Mr. Blue Sky]

5. Two sides to every story... 3. Mary Estelle Curran

Ryskamp chastised the government for prosecuting the 79-year-old woman, when 38,000 other people in the same situation were given immunity.

“This is a tragic situation,” Ryskamp said. “It seems to me the government should have used more discretion.”

Curran inherited the accounts when her husband, Mortimer, died in 2000.

In January, Curran pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false tax returns for 2006 and 2007 and paid $21.6 million in penalty fees. The probation officer recommended probation and the government didn’t oppose it.

Curran’s husband, an investment banker, handled all their accounts, while his wife volunteered at hospitals, thrift stores, soup kitchens and, for 32 years, with the Rehabilitation Center for Children and Adults, where she worked with children, Black said.

“It was very hard work,” Black said. “Thirty-two years of not just making donations, but giving of herself.”

Ryskamp made it clear Curran never should have been charged.

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/national/woman-free-after-seconds-on-probation/nXXtN/