Reported theft of Romney tax records being probed

[walkstall]

Hmm...let the games begin.


snip~
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — The Secret Service said Wednesday it is investigating the reported theft of copies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's federal tax records during a break-in at an accounting office in Franklin. Someone claiming responsibility demanded $1 million not to make them public.

An anonymous letter sent to Romney's accounting firm and political offices in Tennessee and published online sought $1 million in hard-to-trace Internet currency to prevent the disclosure of his tax filings, which have emerged as a key focus during the 2012 presidential race. Romney released his 2010 tax returns and a 2011 estimate in January, but he has refused to disclose his returns from earlier years.

Romney's accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said there was no evidence that any Romney tax files were stolen.



snip~
An anonymous posting on a file-sharing website said the returns were stolen Aug. 25 from the accounting firm's office. After "all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied," the posting said, flash drives containing encrypted copies of his pre-2010 tax records were sent to the firm and to Republican and Democratic party offices.






By STEPHEN BRAUN and ERIK SCHELZIG, AP
30 minutes ago


more @
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20120905/US.CVN.Romney.Tax.Records/

[taxed]

I doubt it was anyone in Obama's administration... they don't know what tax records look like.

[walkstall]

I doubt it was anyone in Obama's administration... they don't know what tax records look like.

     

[mdgiles]

I doubt it was anyone in Obama's administration... they don't know what tax records look like.

Besides Obama has long since had the IRS send him copies of Romney's returns. The problem is he can't use them, without someone winding up in Federal Prison - and no one is going to take that hit for The Won. Of course if the records were "stolen" and "revealed" by some "unknown party", not only could they be made public - but you could photo shop in anything you pleased.

[mdgiles]

Jeeze! I was reading Instapundit, when I came across this little item"

SO WATERGATE WAS A "HAVE YOU NO DECENCY?" MOMENT, BUT IF THIS IS TRUE, THESE PEOPLE WILL BE HEROES TO A LOT OF DEMOCRATS: Claim: Anonymous group allegedly hacked Romney tax records via TN firm. Of course, how would you establish the authenticity of anything they released? It would be like Frank J. publishing Obama's college transcripts. Which, by the way, seem to have remained sacrosanct somehow.

Say, remember the Palin email hacking? It's like these independent-hacker people actually just work for the Democratic Party or something.

UPDATE: In the comments, a suggestion that this is just a cover story: "As many observers have noted, there's little question the Obama campaign has Romney's tax returns. That's illegal, though–they had to have been obtained from the government, which indeed is Nixon territory–so there will have to be some cover story when they are inevitably leaked prior to the election. The Reid nonsense was a start, maybe this is the vehicle."
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/
Posted at 2:25 pm by Glenn Reynolds

I see someone else realizes this is just a scam to somehow get Romney's tax returns into the public eye. They also noticed that authenticity becomes an issue.

[tbone0106]

Jeeze! I was reading Instapundit, when I came across this little item"
I see someone else realizes this is just a scam to somehow get Romney's tax returns into the public eye. They also noticed that authenticity becomes an issue.

Good catch, Giles! The Dems have so little to run on, they need every bullet they can get to shoot at Romney, and that's why they're DYING to get his tax returns -- which they already have -- into the public arena. Are they constructing a Manning/Assange/Wikileaks sort of scenario to get that done?

Question: Does anyone know how the PwC office in Franklin, Tennessee would be "the" place to break into to get at Romney's tax records? Mitt and Ann Romney maintain residences in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and California. What does an accounting office in Franklin, TN have to do with the matter of Romney's taxes?

[kramarat]

They should have stolen Obama's secret Marxist college papers. Lots of possibilities with those........................a million dollars, a solar panel company, death...................

[mdgiles]

Good catch, Giles! The Dems have so little to run on, they need every bullet they can get to shoot at Romney, and that's why they're DYING to get his tax returns -- which they already have -- into the public arena. Are they constructing a Manning/Assange/Wikileaks sort of scenario to get that done?

Question: Does anyone know how the PwC office in Franklin, Tennessee would be "the" place to break into to get at Romney's tax records? Mitt and Ann Romney maintain residences in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and California. What does an accounting office in Franklin, TN have to do with the matter of Romney's taxes?

I believe they would just need access to the main server of the accounting firm that does his taxes. Many business that do work all over the US, often have specific operations in a single location. Often where it can be done as cheaply as possible. In an energy intensive operation like computing, it may be in Tennessee because energy costs are lower.