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December 7, 2006

Survivor Hatch appeals tax evasion conviction

PROVIDENCE -- Survivor winner Richard Hatch appealed his tax evasion conviction today, saying the judge prevented him from raising allegations of cheating during filming of the debut season of the CBS reality TV show.

The Rhode Island resident was convicted last January of failing to pay taxes on his $1 million Survivor prize and other income. He was sentenced in May to more than four years in federal prison.

His lawyers filed a brief with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston seeking to have the convictions overturned and reiterating accusations of cheating first raised outside the jury's presence during the trial.

Hatch maintains he caught the show's producers cheating by smuggling food to other contestants during taping, and that they struck a deal to pay his taxes if he went on to win the competition.

Hatch's lawyer, Michael Minns, told U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres of the allegations during a break in testimony but never asked his client about it when he was on the stand.

Thomas Connell, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rhode Island, said the government would file a reply brief, probably sometime in January.

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 5:55 PM | Permalink

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