NH Man Who Alleged that Israel and Others Orchestrated 9-11 Convicted of Trumped-Up Tax Charges!

(Manchester, NH) From 1996 through 2002, Steven A. Swan of Manchester, New Hampshire was a follower and promoter of the income tax theories of nationally-known income tax protester Irwin Schiff. In January of 2002, 15-20 armed I.R.S. Special Agents executed a search warrant at Swan's home and informed him that he was the target of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department for alleged violations of the internal revenue laws. In March of 2003, Swan was indicted by a federal grand jury on 18 felony counts. Swan has pleaded "not guilty" to all of the charges against him and he intends to represent himself at trial, which is scheduled to commence on February 3, 2004 in Concord, New Hampshire.

After Swan was indicted, he couldn't figure out why the Justice Department had decided to prosecute him instead of the much more highly-visible and well-known Schiff or any of Schiff's hundreds of thousands of other followers. It has been almost two years since the I.R.S. raided Swan’s home and Schiff has yet to be prosecuted by the Justice Department. Schiff estimates that up to a million Americans have stopped paying federal income taxes based upon his theories about the federal income tax..

After reviewing some of his writings prior to the I.R.S. raid on his home, Swan finally realized why he was being prosecuted. Within the months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Swan widely distributed his belief that the Israeli Mossad and members of the Bush Administration who place Israel's interests above those of the United States (e.g., Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Eliot Abrahms, Douglas Feith, David Frum, Ari Fleischer, CIA Director George Tenet, FBI Director Louis Freeh, ) orchestrated or assisted in orchestrating the September 11th terrorist attacks and its subsequent cover-up as a way to drag the United States into wars with all of Israel's enemies. Swan was especially vocal about his beliefs in late December of 2001 when he distributed Fox News' Carl Cameron's investigative reporting about the Israeli connection to 9-11 (which was later removed from the Fox News Web site) and a piece about that report by Dr. William Pierce of the National Alliance. Ten days later, the I.R.S. raided Swan’s home and informed him that he was the target of a criminal investigation.

Even though Swan was being investigated for violations of the internal revenue laws, he kept on alleging that Israel and others loyal to Israel were behind the terrorist attacks. In March of 2003, Swan was indicted on 18 felony counts of alleged violations of the internal revenue laws.

On Friday, February 6th, Swan's trial began in Concord, New Hampshire. Swan was defending himself at trial, without a lawyer. On Thursday, February 12th, the jury found Swan guilty of all 18 felony charges. Swan is free on personal recognizance bail until his sentencing on May 19, 2004. He expects to receive a sentence of between 5 and 8 years in federal prison.

Swan came to the realization that the Justice Department was prosecuting him, not for alleged violations of the internal revenue laws, but for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech and expression. The Justice Department knows that Swan did not commit any of the crimes he was charged with because he never willfully violated any law, a prerequisite before he could have be found guilty. Swan was merely passing on the income tax theories of the much more highly-visible and well-known Irwin Schiff—a person whom the Justice Department has declined to prosecute. However, the jury believed the Government instead of Swan.

Swan believes that the fact that the Justice Department is prosecuting him in order to silence him is evidence that his theory about who orchestrated the September 11th terrorist attacks must be correct. Otherwise, the Justice Department would not have prosecuted him. As the old aviation warfare saying goes, "One knows when one is over the target by the amount of flak that is being fired at him."

No matter what one might think about Swan's allegations that Israel and others loyal to Israel within our own government orchestrated the September 11th terrorist attacks, in an open and free society one should be able to express his or her thoughts without having to fear retaliation from the Government.

Anyone who believes that the Justice Department should not have vindictively and selectively prosecuted Swan for exercising his First Amendment rights of free speech and expression should contact the Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft, at the U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20530. They should also contact their own U.S. Senators and Congressman about this travesty of justice, as well as Swan's Senators and Congressman (Senator Judd Gregg and John E. Sununu and Congressman Jeb Bradley.)

One can follow the Justice Department’s vindictive and selective prosecution of Swan at a Web site he has set up at www.stevenswan.com.

For more information or to make a donation to Swan’s defense, Swan can be reached at stevenswan@earthlink.net, at (603) 622-3236, or at P.O. Box 453, Auburn, NH 03032.