CSTJ Lewis (“The Name of Fame”) Carluzzo gives Whistleblower 6544-19W, T. C. Memo. 2024-74, filed 7/18/24, the Romans 14:4 treatment. Whistleblower 6544-19W, hereinafter sometimes referred to as “Four Nineteen Whiskey,” claims the Ogden Sunseteers shortchanged him with a mere 22% (less sequester), when his other blows netted him 30% (less sequester).

I use the singular masculine personal pronoun for convenience; CSTJ Lew doesn’t distinguish, and English has no singular gender-neutral personal pronoun for human beings. And CSTJ Lew is zealous to protect Four Nineteen Whiskey’s identity.

“While employed by an investment banking firm (IBF), petitioner became aware of various tax strategies developed and marketed by IBF. We think it inappropriate to provide the details and/or nature of IBF’s program. The situation is obviously well known to the parties, and to do so in this Opinion might compromise petitioner’s entitlement to proceed anonymously.” T. C. Memo. 2024-74, at p. 2. I’m not sure on which dodge Four Nineteen Whiskey blew, but I can guess (and so can you).

Howbeit, CSTJ Lew trudges through Prop. Treas. Reg. § 301.7623-4, 77 Fed. Reg. 74798, 74802–03 (Dec. 18, 2012), and finds that the Ogden Sunseteers “proceeded as the regulation directs, and petitioner does not suggest that the regulation is invalid. Respondent’s WBO found only one of the positive factors to apply and increased petitioner’s award from 15% to 22% of collected proceeds. We note that the positive factors included in the regulation do not include one that requires the WBO to take into consideration the fixed percentage amounts of awards that a whistleblower received with respect to related claims.” T. C. Memo. 2024-74, at p. 5. (Citation omitted).

In short, each blow stands on its own. Though Four Nineteen Whiskey says he has more positives than the Ogden Sunseteers allowed, CSTJ Lew says that’s a “matter of opinion,” (T. C. Memo. 2024-74, at p. 5),  and the Ogden Sunseteers’ sliding-scale approach to awards passes the arbitrary-capricious test.

I cannot close without noting that nothing would have been done, and IBF and chums would have scarpered with the boodle they ripped off from us taxpayers, despite Four Nineteen Whiskey’s shouting from the housetops, while the Ogden Sunseteers consumed miles of red tape, assuring us that all’s for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Except.

“Investigations conducted by Congress and respondent confirmed petitioner’s allegations with respect to the existence of the tax avoidance scheme and the taxpayers involved in it only after petitioner’s information was given to a newspaper journalist who made the tax avoidance scheme public.” T. C. Memo. 2024-74, at p. 2.

OK, curse us journos, threaten us, malign us, ignore us, say we put out “fake news,” we’re “enemies of the people,” fire us when we take a union office (as just happened to a Hong Kong reporter for a prestigious US publication) or tell a story some editor doesn’t want to hear…but as a poet said, like the dust, we’ll rise.