Forums

[NotFromHere]

No one is surprised.

Ex-‘Survivor’ Hatch found guilty of tax evasion
Reality show winner failed to play taxes on $1 million show prize

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Richard Hatch, who won $1 million in the first season of “Survivor,” was found guilty Wednesday of failing to pay taxes on his winnings.

Hatch was handcuffed and taken into custody after U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres said he was a potential flight risk.

He also was convicted of evading taxes on $327,000 (that's way too high for his talent) he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned. He was acquitted of seven bank, mail and wire fraud charges.

Hatch, 44, faces up to 13 years in prison and a fine of $600,000. Sentencing was scheduled for April 28.

Jurors deliberated for less than a day after more than a week of testimony.

Besides the tax charges, prosecutors accused Hatch of using money donated to his charitable foundation, Horizon Bound, an outdoors program he planned to open for troubled youth. He allegedly spent the money on expenses including tips to a limousine driver, dry cleaning and tens of thousands of dollars on improvements to a house he owned.

Near the end of the trial, an explanation for Hatch’s failure to pay taxes was raised by his lawyer — but never mentioned in the jury’s presence. Hatch’s lawyer, Michael Minns, said Hatch caught fellow contestants cheating and struck a deal with the show’s producers to pay his taxes if he won. But Hatch was never asked about the allegation when he testified.

Instead, Minns told jurors that Hatch, who lives in Newport, was the “world’s worst bookkeeper” and said his client never meant to do anything wrong.