Whistleblowers, Jury Drama, and the $50 Million Question Jack Fisher Part II

Jack Fisher & Syndicated Conservation Easements — Part II Whistleblowers, Jury Drama, and the $50 Million Question Syndicated Conservation Easements started as a quiet tax strategy. They became a multibillion-dollar industry. Then they became one of the IRS’s top enforcement priorities. In Part II of our Jack Fisher series, Dominique Molina and Tom Gorczynski pull back the curtain on how this billion-dollar scheme unraveled — and why the fight over conservation easements is still far from over. Because this wasn’t just about one promoter. It was about a system. This episode zooms out to explain: The landmark Kiva Dunes case High-profile conservation easements, including Donald Trump’s The explosion of SCE transactions between 2013–2014 IRS Notice 2017-10 designating SCEs as “listed transactions” The intense lobbying battle in Congress The repeated failure of reform bills For years, lawmakers tried to rein in abusive deals. For years, the bills failed. Lobbyists framed reform as: Anti-conservation Anti-property rights Anti-environment Meanwhile, the IRS was fighting a valuation war in court — one appraisal at a time. In This Episode We Cover: IRS whistleblower mechanics How Form 211 cases actually work The jury drama that almost collapsed the trial Why reform bills failed for years How lobbying reshaped the debate What §170(h)(7) actually does Why some easement cases survive and others implode