From our private database of 37,500+ case briefs...

United States v. Hom

United States District Court for the Northern District of California

45 F. Supp. 3d 1175 (2014)

Facts

In 2006 and 2007, John Hom (defendant) participated in online gambling via two poker websites called PokerStars.com and PartyPoker.com. Both websites allowed Hom to deposit and withdraw funds. Hom used Fire-Pay.com, an online financial institution, to transfer money to and from the websites. The total combined funds in Hom’s website and FirePay accounts was at times over $10,000. PokerStars, PartyPoker, and FirePay were all located outside of the US, but PokerStars likely had accounts in the US. Under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (the act), individuals are required to file a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report (FBAR) for foreign accounts that exceed $10,000 in the previous year. However, Hom did not file an FBAR until 2010, and he failed to include his FirePay account. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (plaintiff) assessed Hom with civil penalties. Hom argued that the location of his accounts should be determined based on the geographic location of the actual funds and that it was possible that the funds were located in the US. However, the IRS argued that the location of Hom’s accounts should be determined based on the locations of the financial institutions and therefore that Hom’s accounts were in fact foreign because PokerStars, PartyPoker, and FirePay were all located outside of the US. The IRS moved for summary judgement.

Rule of Law

The rule of law is the black letter law upon which the court rested its decision. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Issue

The issue section includes the dispositive legal issue in the case phrased as a question. To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

Holding and Reasoning (Alsup, J.)

The holding and reasoning section includes:

A "yes" or "no" answer to the question framed in the issue section;
A summary of the majority or plurality opinion, using the CREAC method; and
The procedural disposition (e.g., reversed and remanded, affirmed, etc.).

To access this section, please start your free trial or log in.

What to do next…

Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.
You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 631,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.
Unlock this case brief Read our student testimonials
Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.
Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.
Learn about our approach Read more about Quimbee

Here's why 631,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 37,500 briefs, keyed to 984 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Here's why 631,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
37,500 briefs - keyed to 984 casebooks
Uniform format for every case brief
Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
Top-notch customer support