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Audit Threat

175 statements
32 feature instances
19 referencing feature instances

Audit Threat	type	FeatureClass
Audit Threat	label	Audit Threat
Audit Threat	page	AuditThreat
Audit Threat	comment	When police or detectives encounter a recalcitrant witness who owns or runs a business, and they get him to talk by threatening to sic a government agency on them. This threat usually opens the witness's mouth, especially if the business deals in mostly cash, or is obviously less than reputable. Government agencies often used in the threat include those scary tax agencies like the American IRS and regulatory bodies like liquor licensing boards. This is far less common than one might think and is usually not Truth in Television. The IRS and most equivalent agencies need to have probable cause to audit a business. Simply doing so on the say so of a police officer is guaranteed to result in the audit being ruled illegal by a judge even if anything incriminating were to be found. (And even if something incriminating was found, the police couldn't use it anyway due to "fruit of the poisonous tree" laws that prevent illegally-obtained evidence from being used in a criminal case.) Police or detectives employing this tactic would also certainly face disciplinary action if not dismissal from the force. Audit agencies are also very busy and none of them are going to conduct a time-consuming audit solely because the cops complain someone is being uncooperative unless it's an exceptionally blatant or high profile case. Contrast Empty Cop Threat. Examples
Audit Threat	fetched	2023-05-21T13:43:47Z
Audit Threat	parsed	2023-05-21T13:43:47Z
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to Arcanum: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to LawAndOrderSVU: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to MagnificentBastard: Not an Item - FEATURE
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to MonsterOfTheWeek: Not an Item - FEATURE
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to PerpSweating: Not an Item - CAT
Audit Threat	processingComment	Dropped link to TheSixties: Not an Item - FEATURE
Audit Threat	processingUnknown	LawAndOrderSVU
Audit Threat	processingUnknown	Arcanum
Audit Threat	isPartOf	DBTropes
Audit Threat / int_1343f4f0	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_1343f4f0	comment	The Eiger Sanction (1975). Retired Badass and art professor Jon Hemlock is coerced back for One Last Job after Dragon threatens to tip off the IRS about his art collection bought on the black market. He then follows this up with an even worse threat — the idea of Hemlock's precious paintings being bought by the great unwashed public, or even Dragon's brainless henchman Mr Pope, whom Hemlock loathes.
Audit Threat / int_1343f4f0	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_1343f4f0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Eiger Sanction	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_1343f4f0
Audit Threat / int_1beec425	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_1beec425	comment	In Scary Go Round, secret agent Fallon Young uses the same sort of pressure to get inventor Tim Jones to join her on a mission.
Audit Threat / int_1beec425	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_1beec425	featureConfidence	1.0
Scary Go Round (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_1beec425
Audit Threat / int_2134b407	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_2134b407	comment	Travis McGee: In The Empty Copper Sea, McGee pulls this on a a bar owner: knowing that health and fire codes are contradictory and therefore he is almost guaranteed to be breaking one of them. This scene was kept in the 1980 Made-for-TV Movie adaptation Travis McGee; a Failed Pilot Episode starring Rod Taylor.
Audit Threat / int_2134b407	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_2134b407	featureConfidence	1.0
Travis McGee	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_2134b407
Audit Threat / int_2221ecbd	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_2221ecbd	comment	CSI: NY has Flack do this a fair bit. Mac does it once as well and followed through...he and Stella walked away grinning as a Fed agent laundry-listed the perp's charges.
Audit Threat / int_2221ecbd	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_2221ecbd	featureConfidence	1.0
CSI: NY	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_2221ecbd
Audit Threat / int_267cbfa	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_267cbfa	comment	Dominic Deegan has Sieg's father, Lars, called in to help with his son's exorcism. "I'm an accountant! What am I going to do, threaten it with a tax audit?" A few moments later:
Audit Threat / int_267cbfa	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_267cbfa	featureConfidence	1.0
Dominic Deegan (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_267cbfa
Audit Threat / int_2d11206b	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_2d11206b	comment	In Angel (1984), Miss Allen is attempting to gain access to Molly's apartment but is being stonewalled by Molly's landlord Solly. Miss Allen then tells Solly that she used to work for the Department of Health and she can see so many violations in this rattrap that she could get the apartment building closed with one call to City Hall. Solly relents and gives her the key to the apartment.
Audit Threat / int_2d11206b	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_2d11206b	featureConfidence	1.0
Angel (1984)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_2d11206b
Audit Threat / int_43576f5	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_43576f5	comment	Supernatural. Inverted in "The Slice Girls". An academic expects some 'financial remuneration' when consulted on the 'serial killer' so Dean pretends they'll have a 'friendly' word with the IRS if they get some cooperation. In "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?", Sam and Dean try Perp Sweating a pawn shop owner into giving up information, but he's not impressed as they're covered by CCTV cameras. Mrs. Tran, however, points out that her brother in the tax department had better not find out about the fancy sports car he's got parked outside.
Audit Threat / int_43576f5	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_43576f5	featureConfidence	1.0
Supernatural	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_43576f5
Audit Threat / int_468bebb0	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_468bebb0	comment	Discworld: Lord Vetinari mentions once to a complaining guild that, incidentally, they were on the taxpayer register last he looked. In Men at Arms, the City Watch (under Corporal Carrot) uses this to get some weapons to deal with the civil unrest in Ankh-Morpork from the armory. The same book has a subversion: Carrot seems to pull this on Ironcrust, but Ironcrust has no reason to be uncooperative (he's the person who was robbed), and Carrot is genuinely confused that someone would say "I pay my taxes" when they aren't on the register, and thinks that coming back the next day with the correct forms would be helpful. By the time of Snuff, the City Watch has gained the power to use this threat thanks to A.E. Pessimal.
Audit Threat / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_468bebb0
Audit Threat / int_4b57d678	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_4b57d678	comment	In one episode of Murphy Brown, Murphy gets in trouble with the White House (again), and Miles ends up dealing with the fallout. In Gibbs's case, he makes it stick, because it's not a threat, it's a promise.
Audit Threat / int_4b57d678	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_4b57d678	featureConfidence	1.0
Murphy Brown	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_4b57d678
Audit Threat / int_52bb1426	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_52bb1426	comment	Robert Stack's tycoon character in Uncommon Valor gets threatened with IRS audits if he continues to fund the operation to go rescue some long-abandoned and left for dead Vietnam War prisoners (amongst which is his and The Hero's son). His response is a simple "fuck you".
Audit Threat / int_52bb1426	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_52bb1426	featureConfidence	1.0
Uncommon Valor	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_52bb1426
Audit Threat / int_59593dcd	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_59593dcd	comment	By the time of Snuff, the City Watch has gained the power to use this threat thanks to A.E. Pessimal.
Audit Threat / int_59593dcd	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_59593dcd	featureConfidence	1.0
Snuff	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_59593dcd
Audit Threat / int_5e150650	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_5e150650	comment	Sidereals in Exalted occasionally face this, as befits reality-protecting office-worker ninjas of the Celestial Bureaucracy.
Audit Threat / int_5e150650	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_5e150650	featureConfidence	1.0
Exalted (Tabletop Game)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_5e150650
Audit Threat / int_69fa7496	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_69fa7496	comment	Used by the Beagle Boys in one Donald Duck comic. When Donald refuses to reveal the location of Scrooge's money vault among the four dozen he had built, they grab a blank tax form and start filling it out for him, putting down the kind of income that, well, Scrooge would be familiar with. He caves in after that. Fortunately, after Donald explains the situation (once the vault is emptied) and gets Scrooge to stop killing him, Scrooge starts dynamiting the other vaults... where it turns out the Beagle Boys had stashed it.
Audit Threat / int_69fa7496	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_69fa7496	featureConfidence	1.0
Disney Ducks Comic Universe (Comic Book)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_69fa7496
Audit Threat / int_6b3b8320	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_6b3b8320	comment	In the Eli Sternberg arc in Wiseguy, Federal Agent McPike is trying to get some information from a company that does business with the group that they are investigating. They refuse, until McPike says "If you don't let me in, I will call my friends at the IRS. They eat guys like you for breakfast". The company lets him in immediately.
Audit Threat / int_6b3b8320	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_6b3b8320	featureConfidence	1.0
Wiseguy	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_6b3b8320
Audit Threat / int_73d7930f	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_73d7930f	comment	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode "Dax," Quark refuses Odo's request to shut down his bar for several days so it can be used as a venue for Dax's trial. In response, Odo threatens to abuse his authority as station constable by making up new building codes that would cost Quark a fortune to meet.
Audit Threat / int_73d7930f	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_73d7930f	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_73d7930f
Audit Threat / int_7680545c	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_7680545c	comment	In one episode of The Nanny, Fran ponders this as a way to deal with her possessive, "connected" boyfriend, by exploiting her own family connections.
Audit Threat / int_7680545c	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_7680545c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Nanny	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_7680545c
Audit Threat / int_80ec188c	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_80ec188c	comment	A variation in Doc Martin. PC Penhale runs a Loan Shark out of town despite not being able to demonstrate that the man has been committing crimes by threatening to give the van he runs his business out of a very thorough vehicle inspection.
Audit Threat / int_80ec188c	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_80ec188c	featureConfidence	1.0
Doc Martin	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_80ec188c
Audit Threat / int_88be979a	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_88be979a	comment	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: When Holmes, Watson and Lestrade attempt to gain access to the rubber factory, the owner tells them to come back with a search warrant. Holmes says that one can be easily obtained, but adds that it might be more profitable to return with the labour commissioners: noting that unlike its neighbours, his factory has bar on the inside, not the outside, of its windows, indicating that he is more concerned with keeping someone in, rather than out, and deducing that his workforce must likely consists of illegal immigrants. The owner caves and agrees to tell them what they want to know.
Audit Threat / int_88be979a	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_88be979a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_88be979a
Audit Threat / int_8d81bb26	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_8d81bb26	comment	In NCIS, Tony or Gibbs also do this on occasions.
Audit Threat / int_8d81bb26	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_8d81bb26	featureConfidence	1.0
NCIS	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_8d81bb26
Audit Threat / int_8d85e141	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_8d85e141	comment	In Veep, Selina gets a congresswoman to vote for a bill she supports by threatening, among other things, to sic the IRS on her corrupt husband.
Audit Threat / int_8d85e141	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_8d85e141	featureConfidence	1.0
Veep	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_8d85e141
Audit Threat / int_8dfbdff2	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_8dfbdff2	comment	Happens all the time on Law & Order. Lenny Briscoe was fond of threatening to sic the Board of Health onto bars when the owners weren't being cooperative.
Audit Threat / int_8dfbdff2	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_8dfbdff2	featureConfidence	1.0
Law & Order	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_8dfbdff2
Audit Threat / int_9aac0273	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_9aac0273	comment	In Men at Arms, the City Watch (under Corporal Carrot) uses this to get some weapons to deal with the civil unrest in Ankh-Morpork from the armory.
Audit Threat / int_9aac0273	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_9aac0273	featureConfidence	1.0
Men at Arms	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_9aac0273
Audit Threat / int_9e876c22	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_9e876c22	comment	Inverted with the angel in disguise Aziraphale in Good Omens: he pays his taxes so scrupulously that he gets audited repeatedly on the basis that he must have something to hide.
Audit Threat / int_9e876c22	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_9e876c22	featureConfidence	1.0
Good Omens	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_9e876c22
Audit Threat / int_ae454c45	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_ae454c45	comment	In Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley is caught illegally searching for evidence; he pretends to be an inspector and threatens an employee who questions his authority with an IRS audit. The employee drops his objections.
Audit Threat / int_ae454c45	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_ae454c45	featureConfidence	1.0
Beverly Hills Cop	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_ae454c45
Audit Threat / int_bb3fde3d	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_bb3fde3d	comment	In Danny Phantom, this was used several times by people representing the government. It got quick results in each instance.
Audit Threat / int_bb3fde3d	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_bb3fde3d	featureConfidence	1.0
Danny Phantom	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_bb3fde3d
Audit Threat / int_c18bfdae	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_c18bfdae	comment	Blade Runner. Police officer Deckard is trying to get information from strip club owner Taffey Lewis.
Audit Threat / int_c18bfdae	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_c18bfdae	featureConfidence	1.0
Blade Runner	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_c18bfdae
Audit Threat / int_d794a2a2	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_d794a2a2	comment	In the manga for AKIRA, the military exaggerates this. When the barman confidently produces his liquor license, the agent talking to him proceeds to burn it, informing the barman that of course he'll have to pass another inspection to get a new one...
Audit Threat / int_d794a2a2	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_d794a2a2	featureConfidence	1.0
AKIRA (Manga)	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_d794a2a2
Audit Threat / int_dd5c5eed	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_dd5c5eed	comment	In The Rockford Files, people in official positions often threaten to have Jim Rockford's private investigator's license reviewed to get him to cooperate.
Audit Threat / int_dd5c5eed	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_dd5c5eed	featureConfidence	1.0
The Rockford Files	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_dd5c5eed
Audit Threat / int_e0cc2a40	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_e0cc2a40	comment	Hiccup uses a similar tactic to get information from Trader Johann in an episode of Dragons: Race To The Edge:
Audit Threat / int_e0cc2a40	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_e0cc2a40	featureConfidence	1.0
Dragons: Riders of Berk	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_e0cc2a40
Audit Threat / int_f0b1b9a5	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_f0b1b9a5	comment	In Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco book Time To Depart, Falco and Petro are talking to the receptionist of a brothel (they were going to question her boss) when she offers them 'something special', a freeborn whore. Petro asks if the receptionist can show him the official she's registered with, and her registration number, after which she realises that they weren't there to score.
Audit Threat / int_f0b1b9a5	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_f0b1b9a5	featureConfidence	1.0
Marcus Didius Falco	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_f0b1b9a5
Audit Threat / int_fb2991d8	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_fb2991d8	comment	On Justified US Marshal Raylan is in Florida looking for a fugitive and needs to get in touch with Daryl Crowe. He goes to talk to one of Daryl's associates but the guy is uncooperative. Raylan then tells him that he and his partner are going to grab food at a local diner and if Daryl is not there by the time they finish eating, they will come back with a warrant and an official from Fish and Wildlife. Since the guy has been illegally poaching alligators, he quickly becomes cooperative. Averted when they meet with Daryl since the marshals simply threaten to send him back to jail for a parole violation which is within their jurisdiction.
Audit Threat / int_fb2991d8	featureApplicability	-1.0
Audit Threat / int_fb2991d8	featureConfidence	1.0
Justified	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_fb2991d8
Audit Threat / int_fd4c848a	type	Audit Threat
Audit Threat / int_fd4c848a	comment	I Dream of Jeannie: In "My Master The Rich Tycoon" it's a case of dueling audit threats. An IRS man threatens to audit Dr. Bellows if he doesn't cough up some information on Major Nelson. Dr. Bellows threatens to have the IRS man drafted. Touché, Dr. Bellows, touché.
Audit Threat / int_fd4c848a	featureApplicability	1.0
Audit Threat / int_fd4c848a	featureConfidence	1.0
I Dream of Jeannie	hasFeature	Audit Threat / int_fd4c848a

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Audit Threat	processingCategory2	Crime and Punishment Tropes
Audit Threat	processingCategory2	Threatening Tropes
Angel (1984) / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Beverly Hills Cop / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Blade Runner / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Look Who's Talking / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
The Eiger Sanction / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Uncommon Valor / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Travis McGee / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Billions / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
I Dream of Jeannie / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
JAG / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Law & Order / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
The Nanny / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
The Rockford Files / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Wiseguy / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Scary Go Round (Webcomic) / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat
Zootopia / int_48ac82d0	type	Audit Threat

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