It's a "St. Valentine's Day back-tax massacre," says the Post (stretching it). On February 14th, director Martin Scorsese was reportedly hit with a back-tax bill of $2.85 million, which the IRS says he owes for taxes and related interest and penalties. And sources say the troubles may stem from Scorsese's business relationship with Ponzi-schemer Kenneth Starr. One source said, "He'd been mismanaged for a number of years when he was at Starr, and s--- started to happen. In a general sense, his finances were messed up, and this is probably one of the many things that didn't get tended to."
However, Scorsese's spokeswoman Leslee Dart said this is a "complete mistake": "The IRS prematurely filed this lien even though Mr. Scorsese had an agreement with the IRS to make payments and was fully complying. As of this moment, the entire amount is full paid, and he has no current IRS debts." Scorsese dropped Starr as his money manager just five months before Starr was busted. He's also had a number of liens since 2002, but according to the Finance Department those have all been paid in full.
Al Pacino, another Starr client, is reportedly the subject of a $188,283.50 IRS lien in LA. But somehow we think Scorsese, who lives in a $12 million Upper East Side townhouse, will weather this storm.
