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IRS Stressing Warrior Owner Chris Cohan

By Atma Brother ONE

Much aligned Golden State Warriors owner Chris Cohan has been accused of tax evasion by the IRS [SFGate]:

Golden State Warriors owner Chris Cohan, whose long-suffering team finally has become a force on the basketball court, has been waging his own battle in federal court over claims he evaded taxes and owes the government more than $160 million. The government says Cohan, a former cable TV mogul, "engaged in three potentially abusive tax shelters" when he sold Sonic Communications in 1998 for more than $200 million, court records show.

Let's hope the end is near for Cohan's ownership, although given his vast experience with legal battles that might be too optimistic. In Cohan's 13 year tenure as majority owner of the Warriors he's literally run the team to the ground with 12 losing seasons. During most of that time he has been a notorious penny pincher who made extremely poor hires (ahem, Gary St. Jean and Dave Twardzik). The lowlight of his ownership has to be getting booed at the 2000 NBA All Star game in Oakland when he took center court. Say what you want about NBA owners like the always energetic Mark Cuban or the playboy Maloof brothers, but Cohan is by the far the NBA's worst owner. He almost single handedly killed NBA hoops in the Bay Area, the sports world's 4th largest market. If it wasn't for Nellie rescuing him this year, we'd be looking at 13 straight years of not even being on the NBA's map.

nelson_pc_cohan.jpg
Cohan's batting an incompetent .077 as owner of the Warriors.

What better owner for the Bay's beloved Warriors, the sole inhabitants of the Roaracle Arena, than Mr. Larry Ellison? Mr. Oracle has been rumored for years to be dying to own a professional sports franchise in California. His deep pockets and his win at all costs attitude would do wonders for the Warriors:

I'm not a tax or legal expert and believe me I fall into quite a different tax bracket than Cohan, so there's not too much I can add on the tax evasion accusations besides that if Cohan's gone-- GOOD RIDDANCE.

Any CPAs or attorneys in the GSoM community that can share some insights about the possible ramifications of this IRS battle for Cohan's ownership of the Warriors?


 Also see:

Chris Cohan's many "accomplishments" as owner of the Warriors:

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