'Brokeback Mountain' Actress Michelle Williams' Father Loses Appeal in Tax Evasion Case
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Actress Michelle Williams' father, a prominent stock market trader, lost a court appeal Friday against a second U.S. attempt to extradite him on tax evasion charges.
Three federal court judges dismissed the attempt by 64-year-old Larry Williams to stop the U.S. and New South Wales state courts from taking steps to extradite him.
Williams, a resident of the Virgin Islands, is wanted by the Internal Revenue Service on charges of willfully attempting to evade $1.5 million in taxes from 1990 to 2001.
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A Sydney magistrate is now free to consider the U.S. extradition request. A hearing date is not yet set.
Australian police, responding to a request from U.S. authorities, arrested Williams in May last year after he flew into Sydney to begin a monthlong speaking tour in Australia and New Zealand. He has been free in Sydney on $857,000 bail.
His 26-year-old daughter received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress for her performance in the 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," playing the wife of Heath Ledger's character.
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Ledger is her real life partner and father of her daughter, Matilda.