Family of Tax Suit Target Free of Subpoena Under Fifth Amendment

The government can’t force a woman’s brother and sister-in-law to give up documents as part of its investigation of her $9 million tax debt because they implicate their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York said Monday that Miriam Alter’s relatives can assert the Fifth Amendment privilege to refuse to produce documents about her, and thus closed discovery on the case. Alter, the daughter of deceased Brooklyn rabbi Menashe Klein, is fighting a suit seeking unpaid taxes, interest, and civil fraud penalties for 2002 through 2007 related to funds she received ...