Barry to Face Tax Charges

Charges Filed as 'Criminal Information'

D.C. Council member and former Mayor Marion Barry is scheduled to appear this afternoon in federal court amid signs that he intends to plead guilty to charges stemming from his failure to file tax returns.

Barry has been under investigation for failing to file federal income tax returns and pay his taxes since 1998, according to two sources close to the probe. The Justice Department today filed two misdemeanor tax-related charges against Barry.

The charges were filed in what is known as a "criminal information," a move that typically signals a defendant's intention to plead guilty. Sources said Barry was charged with willful failure to file a return. It was not immediately clear how much money Barry could owe in taxes and potential penalties.

Barry, 69, has declined to comment on the matter. Sources have said that he was warned by the Internal Revenue Service to file his federal income tax returns, but had not done so.

He is to appear at 3 p.m. before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson.

Barry will be returning today to the same courthouse where he stood trial in 1990 on drug charges. Barry was serving his third term as mayor when he was arrested that year after being caught on an FBI videotape smoking crack cocaine. He ultimately was convicted of a single misdemeanor drug charge and served a six-month prison term. After his release, he revived his political career and was elected mayor a fourth time in 1994.

Barry's tenure in the mayor's office ended in January 1999. After that, he did consulting work but did not have a steady job with a regular income. He worked as a consultant for a Vienna-based developer, KSI Services; for a minority-owned investment banking firm based in New York, M.R. Beal & Co.; and for National Corrections and Rehabilitation Corp., a company that operated group homes.