Thursday, January 26, 2006
The first season's winner faces up to 13 years in prison along with a fine.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- 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 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.
What happened
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.
Hatch testified that he thought producers were supposed to pay his "Survivor" taxes, and said the donations he took from his charity were far less than the money he had already poured into it.
More than five years after winning, Hatch remains reality TV's most famous villain, the man viewers loved to hate. He first captured their attention for shedding his clothes on "Survivor," prompting David Letterman to call him "the fat naked guy."
But he made the biggest impression -- and won the show -- by scheming his way to the top.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.