A lawyer that works in the IRS ethics office faces charges that she lied to a court-appointed board looking into whether she embezzled several thousand dollars of her client’s money in a case she worked as a personal injury attorney before joining the IRS.
IRS ethics lawyer Takisha McGee is accused of diverting several thousand dollars she was supposed to pay to healthcare providers for a client in a case she took several years ago.
McGee is listed as a Section Manager of the Legal Analysis Branch on the IRS website.
Despite these public proceedings, the IRS refuses to comment on the case and continues to have McGee give lectures on ethics.
But theft isn’t all she stands accused of. McGee is also accused of lying to the D.C. Court of Appeals’ board of professional responsibility empanelled to review her case.
Additionally, she is accused of essentially intimidating her former client into writing a letter asking the board to dismiss the charges against her.
McGee’s client sent a letter to the board in 2011 saying that she was dropping any case against her one-time lawyer and urged the board to do the same. But the client later testified that McGee threatened to begin subpoenaing the client’s family members if the case continued.
“In its 43-page report, the board detailed the personal injury case, which resulted in an $8,900 insurance settlement,” The Washington Times reported this month. “But after receiving the settlement check, she failed to pay about $3,000 combined to two medical providers whom she was supposed to reimburse for treatment given to her client, according to records.”
Thus far the missing funds have not been located.
The board said it found “clear and convincing” evidence that McGee lied to them and that there was no reason to recommend any lesser punishment than a full disbarring.
“In addition to intentionally misappropriating third-party funds, respondent also violated a number of other ethics rules and gave false testimony during the hearing,” the board wrote in its ruling.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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