Celebrity Apprentice 2011!
Who is Richard Hatch and why is he famous?
[Mar. 14]
Richard Hatch is no stranger to the boardroom. A former corporate trainer and licensed real estate agent, Hatch is also a survivor. In fact, Hatch is the $1 million winner of the first Survivor reality television series, and he’s looking to survive again on Celebrity Apprentice 4. If he wins, he plans to benefit Grassroot Soccer to promote HIV and AIDS education in Africa.
Richard Hatch continually asserted that his experience as a corporate trainer was what allowed him to work with other people and ultimately come out on top in Survivor. And there is no doubt the experience will come in handy on Celebrity Apprentice. But the audience should pay close attention to how he manages his finances.
The green celebrity went to prison in 2005 for three years for failing to pay taxes on his 2000-2001 winnings from Survivor. And reportedly he will be returning to prison for nine months for having failed to pay the IRS still.
Hatch — who was released in 2009 after serving a three-year sentence for tax evasion — still owes an estimated $2 million to the IRS. As a condition of his release, the reality star was ordered to file his 2000 and 2001 tax returns and fork over additional funds, but he failed to do so.
“This isn’t a complicated matter as much as you tried to complicate it,” Judge William E. Smith told Hatch on Friday. “As far as I can tell, you’ve made no effort to put any money into the government’s coffers.”
In spite of his charitable intentions, this is one green celebrity who seems to have trouble managing his green. In addition to the nine month prison term, Richard Hatch also will have 25 percent of his gross income garnished over a 26 month supervised release.
The Providence Journal reports:
Hatch, standing before Judge William E. Smith, said that he continues to cooperate with the IRS in resolving his tax problems, which he said were not “as simple” as they might seem. Any violation of his probation, he said, was due to “technical deficiencies” and another prison sentence would not only be “unduly severe” but prevent him from earning money to pay the IRS.
Sources have said that the season Finale of Celebrity Apprentice 4 will go forward as scheduled on May 22, despite Richard Hatch being imprisoned. The rest of the season’s episodes already have been filmed. The green celebrity is expected to surrender to U.S. Marshals on Monday, March 14, 2011.
The third episode of Celebrity Apprentice 4 will air Sunday, March 20, 2011, at 9 p.m. on NBC.