United States v. Warner, No. 14-1330 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this Case
Defendant, the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies, pled guilty to one count of tax evasion after hiding assets in a Swiss bank account, made full restitution, and paid a $53.6 million civil penalty. On appeal, the government challenged defendant's sentence of two years' probation with community service, plus $100,000 fine and costs. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by not including a term of incarceration to the sentence. In this case, the district court fully explained and supported its decision and reached an outcome that is reasonable under the circumstances. The district judge found defendant’s record of charity and benevolence “overwhelming.” Further mitigating factors - including the uncharacteristic nature of defendant’s crime, his attempt to disclose his account, his payment of a penalty ten times the size of the tax loss, and the government’s
own request for a sentence well below the guidelines range - justified leniency. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.