Comment by ralfd
1 day ago
TMZ says it was suicide.
His business manager stole all his money from Breaking Bad so dude actually ended up in debt because of all the taxes he owed. She never paid his taxes which he didn't find out until years later. She was sending him fake documents.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/breaking-bad-walt-jr-says-132...
> According to the actor, the manager allegedly diverted money intended for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and provided falsified documents showing that his taxes had been paid. Mitte remained unaware of the problem for several years until the IRS notified him of outstanding taxes, penalties, and interest. [0]
[0] https://poptvculture.com/what-was-rj-mittes-net-worth-at-dea...
Financial difficulties caused by mismanagement. He should have been wealthy and comfortable after his work. I feel terrible for the guy.
Sounds like he killed the wrong person.
That seems true from our perspective. But from his, there may be a huge difference between committing murder, no matter how justified it may seem, and just leaving the world.
Hate to agree with this, but I've seen what being defrauded does to someone.
"I write a check to go pay my taxes, and instead of her using it to pay my taxes, she would send me a fake filing of taxes and take that money."
Maybe he was way too innocent! You write a check to the IRS or have federal/state auto-detect. That option is there for sure if filing electronically.
Rather than too innocent, I would say let down by his elders.
It may have changed by now (though I doubt it) but this kind of thing was not covered in my high school or college education and nobody else taught me anything about how taxes work, and so when I entered the workforce in my 20s I was subject to a crash course on the subject after I wound up with a surprise bill from the IRS.
Given that he entered the industry at a young age he very well may have not had anybody teach him any better which enabled the accountant to take advantage of him.
You don't understand how the entertainment business works.
Actors don't get or pay bills, their agent or manager does.
That's part of the justification for taking their 10%: you don't have to worry about anything, anymore. If they were young when they started, it was always like this, and they never learned such basic skills.
Do you think when someone famous drops their phone in a toilet they go stand in line at the Apple store with the normies?
No.
I wonder how many know how to write a check.
More than once I've heard a celebrity explain to an interviewer, "I don't know where the bills go."
When I was making big bank, my accountant suggested I give him check writing ability to make it smoother for me to pay bills.
He was later arrested for fraud.
Amazing.
4 replies →
This kind of theft seems so standard in the industry. It's surprising they get away with it.
Al Pacino got taken for all of his liquid cash: $50 million, by his accountant.
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/al-pacino-broke-act-bad-f...
Leonard Cohen comes to mind as well[1]:
Cohen discovered that he had unknowingly paid a credit card bill of Lynch's for $75,000, and that most of the money in his accounts was gone, including money from his retirement accounts and charitable trust funds. This had begun as early as 1996, when Lynch started selling Cohen's music publishing rights, despite the fact that Cohen had no financial incentive to do so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen#Lawsuits_and_fin...
Dane Cook was famously assfucked out of $12 million by his own (half) brother, who was also his manager. Dude was hiding cash in jars of spaghetti sauce.
IIRC he did prison time for it and it was in the news again recently as it was made into a documentary.
> Dude was hiding cash in jars of spaghetti sauc
Wait, like on The Bear?
What’s said is that yahoo “article” is really an ad for a budgeting app, offered towards the end as a potential way to protect yourself from the same outcome.
Grift layered on grift. What a world.
But how is he responsible for the back taxes then? There must be a case here where it comes out of her pocket, right?
Imagine if that was the case, then everyone would just blame their accountant. No, the taxpayer is ultimately responsible.
But presumably he could sue his accountant (I bet he signed something that means he can't.)
Horrible. And she's still doing it to other actors and her identity is not disclosed.
Why isn't she doing a 20 year sentence for this kind of fraud?
It's very confusing because the way the Internet has described it is multiple counts of fraud and theft but I can't find a single reputable source confirming it.