California Tried to Seize Millions of This Inventor’s Fortune. He Fought Back. And Won.
23rd October 2017
In the early 1990s, California tax authorities traveled to Las Vegas in pursuit of Gilbert Hyatt, an inventor who earned a fortune as the patent holder of the microcomputer. They staked out his home, dug through his trash, and hired a private eye to look into his background. He’d moved to Nevada in 1991, but California made a claim that the state was entitled to millions of his recent earnings.
What transpired over the next twenty-five years is a story of greed, harassment, anti-semitism, and the abuse of power. And it wasn’t the first time that the California tax agency has strong-armed a former state resident. What’s so unusual about Gilbert Hyatt is that he fought back—and won.
The major difference between taxing authorities and the Mafia is that taxing authorities don’t speak Italian.