Independent Contractor Scams at home and abroad

Carl G., an alert reader in London, England reminded me via e-mail that it's not just model corporate citizens like FraudEx (see above post) that like to play games with misclassification of employees. Paragons of paramilitary virtues like Blackwater are also neck deep in the same fraudulent waters:

Waxman Accuses Blackwater of Millions in Tax Fraud, Cover-Up
By Spencer Ackerman - October 22, 2007, 11:52AM
It just gets worse and worse for Blackwater's relationship with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Today, committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) accused Blackwater CEO Erik Prince of hiding "tens of millions of dollars, if not more" in Social Security, Medicare and retirement taxes by classifying its security guards in Iraq as independent contractors. In a letter to Prince, Waxman also called a financial settlement reached with one such former independent contractor "deplorable." The settlement required that the ex-guard not disclose a March 2007 IRS ruling that Blackwater's tax records were out of whack; and the guard was specifically prevented from disclosing that to any "politician" or "public official."

You can enjoy the rest of Spencer's piece here. Just like Al Capone's mob was eventually brought down because of tax evasion, some of today's corporate gangsters may soon suffer the same fate!