Chapter 3
GARNISHMENT
David Barton at the IRS didn't return my call on Tuesday, so at eight a.m. on Wednesday I called him again. The message on his answering service said he was in town but was tied up and would get back to me shortly. I couldn't wait any longer so I called the number for the supervisor in charge for that day. His name was Anthony Perez.
"I have an urgent matter to discuss with Mr. Barton. Will he be in today?"
"I think so. He's out in the field right now but he should be back later this afternoon," Perez advised.
"I don't have much time. I've got to talk to him today."
"What's the urgency?"
"You've garnished my client's account and captured a sizeable amount of money. He has to have $150,000 tomorrow or face dire consequences."
"Well, once we capture funds we don't give them back."
"I know that may be standard policy but there are unusual circumstances here."
"Maybe so, but you'll need to talk to David about that. I can't do anything without talking to him first and finding out his position on the issue."
"Well, have him call me the minute he gets back in, would you?"
"I'll put a note on his desk."
That usually meant I'd get a call back in a week. I wondered if it was time to do some name dropping. Huntington had given me the name of Horace Manning to verify his CIA story.
"Really. This is very important. It involves a matter of national security."
"National security?"
"Yes, my client is Robert Huntington. His company is called Continental Exporters. You can verify the urgency of the situation with Congressman Horace Manning."
There was a moment of silence and then Perez said, "All right, Mr. Turner. Agent Barton will get right back to you."
It appeared that Agent Perez indeed knew the congressman. I wondered how he fit into this bizarre case. Twenty minutes later Jodie buzzed me and to let me know that David Barton was on the line.
"I got a message you called," Barton said.
"Yes, I represent Robert Huntington. He advises me that you have garnished his company's bank account."
"Let me see. Yes, that would be Continental Exporters. . . . Let me see, according to the bank we've captured enough to pay the entire liability."
"So, I've heard. But the fact is, I need to see if there is any chance you might release the account. The money you captured doesn't really belong to Mr. Huntington. He has to wire it to a third party by Friday."
"What are you talking about? The money was in a Continental Exporters' bank account and its tax identification number was on the account, so it clearly did belong to them," Barton replied.
"True, but the money was just in the account pending disbursement to the rightful owner."
He laughed. "That doesn't make any difference. Your client had legal custody over the money, so there is an absolute presumption that it was their money."
"You don't understand. We are not dealing with ordinary businessmen here. If these people don't get their money, they will get violent."
"What people?"
He had me there. I didn't really know the answer to that question. "Ah. . . . The rightful owners of the money are Chinese and they don't take kindly to being stiffed. They won't just sue my client, they'll want blood."
"Oh, come on. Don't you think you're over reacting a bit?" Barton said.
"I wish I were. But my client expects that his local agent will be kidnaped and possibly murdered if the money doesn't show up in the account on Thursday."
"I'm sorry, that's not my concern."
"What about Manning? Did you talk to Congressman Manning?"
"No, I didn't. What does he have to do with this?"
"I'm not sure, but my client seemed to think you ought to talk to him."
"I've got a call into him, but I can't imagine he would have anything to say to me that would alter my stance on this issue."
I obviously wasn't getting anywhere, so I decided to go back to a more direct approach to break the logjam. The fact was I had no idea why the Continental Exporters' account had been garnished. A garnishment meant that taxes hadn't been paid. Perhaps if I explored the source of the tax liability I might find a solution to the problem.
"So, what kind of tax liability do we have here anyway?"
"Income tax—over a quarter of a million dollars. Continental Exporters hasn't filed a tax return since it started doing business."
"So you've just estimated the tax liability?"
"Right."
"Based on what information?"
"Bank records. Your client runs a lot of money through its accounts."
"So, if the tax returns were actually filed and showed no tax liability, would you release the garnishment?"
"Maybe. If you could convince me that the tax returns were correct."
"So you need 1985 and 1986?"
"Right."
"Okay. Let me try that angle. In the meantime, try to get a hold of Manning."
"Hey. I've got a call into him. If he calls me back, I'll talk to him."
It didn't appear that Mr. Barton liked Manning very much. After I hung up with Barton I called Huntington to see why he hadn't filed the Continental tax returns and to see if maybe we could get them filed quickly. Unfortunately, he didn't answer and I had to leave a message on his voice mail. I prayed he'd check his messages soon because time was running out for his partner.
Black Monday, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 7 Page 3
