U.S. Department of Justice
D
J
United States Attorney
District of Massachusetts
                                                                 

   
1003 J.W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse
Boston, Massachusetts 02109
                                                                 

   

                                   
                                   December 18, 1995

                          Press Release

 IRS EMPLOYEE CONVICTED OF UNLAWFULLY ACCESSING TAX INFORMATION

     BOSTON . . . . A former employee of the Internal Revenue
Service has been convicted by a federal jury for using IRS
computers to make repeated unauthorized accesses of confidential
taxpayer information.

     United States Attorney Donald K. Stern announced that, after
a four-day trial in U.S. District Court, RICHARD W. CZUBINSKI,
32, 793 Columbia Road, Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, was
convicted of using his employment position at the IRS to
unlawfully access IRS computers to acquire confidential taxpayer
information for his unauthorized and personal use.  

     CZUBINSKI was convicted of 9 counts of wire fraud by
defrauding the IRS, the United States Government and the public
of their right to his honest services and by fraudulently
obtaining confidential taxpayer return information.  He was also
convicted of 4 counts of computer fraud.

     Evidence presented at trial showed that in 1992, CZUBINSKI,
then employed as an IRS Contact Representative, used his valid
password to access the computers, but exceeded his authorized
access by inspecting confidential taxpayer records of perceived
and potential enemies, associates, and others. In particular,
CZUBINSKI, then a member of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan and affiliated with other white supremacist groups,
accessed certain associates to build "dossiers" on them out of a
concern for the presence of informers. 

     Other taxpayers whose confidential records were inspected by
CZUBINSKI included an Assistant District Attorney from Suffolk
County who was criminally prosecuting CZUBINSKI's father at the
time, and a campaign committee called The Friends of [Councilor]
Jim Kelly, against whom CZUBINSKI unsuccessfully ran in a
preliminary election.   

     CZUBINSKI is to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge
Nathaniel B. Gorton on February 26, 1996.  He faces a maximum
punishment of 5 years in prison and $250,000 fine on each of the
13 counts of conviction.

     Stern said, "Government employees who have access to tax
information have a special responsibility to protect the privacy
of taxpayers.  The defendant not only violated this trust, but
did so to advance his personal agenda." 

     The case was investigated by inspectors from the Internal
Security Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The case was
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Theodore Merritt and
Amy B. Lederer, both members of the Public Corruption and Special
Prosecutions Unit.  

Press Contacts:  Joy Fallon and Anne-Marie Kent, (617) 223-9445