DOJ error nets tax cheat $100,000,000.00!
Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 08:44:50 PM PDT
The headline of the AP story on Yahoo News says it all:
Tax cheat escapes $100 million repayment
The story goes on to excoriate the Justice Department:
Poorly written Justice Department documents cost the federal government more than $100 million in what was supposed to have been the crowning moment of the biggest tax prosecution ever.
Is this more of the same shenanigans that cost the government billions in the tobacco case recently? The story gets stranger as you follow along-
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said he couldn't order Anderson to repay the federal government $100 million to $175 million because the Justice Department's binding plea agreement with Anderson listed the wrong statute.
Friedman said he could have worked around that problem by ordering Anderson to repay the money as part of his probation. But prosecutors omitted any discussion of probation — a common element of plea deals — from Anderson's paperwork.
"I've come to the conclusion, very reluctantly, that I have no authority to order restitution," Friedman said. "I hope the government will appeal me."
Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, which prosecuted the case in cooperation with Justice Department headquarters, said the government would bring civil charges against Anderson.
So who is this Anderson guy? A big Republican donor? Not that I've been able to determine from opensecrets.org. For a guy with such a big case, he's pretty scarce on "The Google". The white collar crime blog has some details on the case:
Walter Anderson has been in jail since his indictment in 2005 for failing to pay what the government alleged were taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars he made on investments in the telecommunications industry. As discussed in the AP story, Anderson entered a guilty plea to two tax evasion charges and one count of tax fraud for avoiding paying over $200 million in taxes.
Also from the AP story:
Anderson started a long-distance telecommunications business in the 1980s as the industry was being deregulated. When his first company, Mid-Atlantic Telecom, merged with another company in 1992, Anderson formed corporations in the British Virgin Islands to hide the income, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Anderson used other offshore corporations to disguise his ownership in other telecommunications companies that earned more than $450 million between 1995 and 1999. He allegedly did not file federal income tax returns from 1987 to 1993.
But this is where it gets bizarre! According to WAPO earlier this month, Anderson is a misunderstood philanthropist:
In 1997, Anderson created FINDS, the Foundation for the International Non-governmental Development of Space, and endowed it with millions of dollars. The organization's Web site says it "is in the process of applying" for status as a not-for-profit under IRS rules.
The site says FINDS has issued grants to support such causes as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the tracking of near-earth asteroids, plans for a human outpost on the moon and "beamed energy propulsion."
Space "will save this planet from dying in our own crap, in our own garbage," Anderson said.
"He's an exceptionally charitable man," said Bob Werb, a real estate developer who has served with Anderson on the Space Frontier Foundation board. "He's part of the American tradition of people who wanted to make money so they could give it away for charitable purposes."
Anderson claims he's being persecuted by the feds, and had even set up "justiceforwalt.com" to make his case:
The US prosecutors have made wild and unsupported claims that Walt Anderson intends to flee the United States to avoid prosecution, but have not presented any concrete evidence that he has such an intention. They have even gone so far as taking books from his library and claiming that his knowledge of how to obtain a false ID could somehow show his "intent" to do so. The government has no evidence that Anderson has ever used a false ID.
The Government also claims that Anderson has significant funds "hidden" outside the US but has not been able to produce evidence of even a single account or location of such funds. When questioned on this, the Government claims they are "still investigating".
The Government has wanted to cut off the funds that Mr. Anderson needs to pay his legal counsel. Forced to declare himself indigent, Mr. Anderson nevertheless had to wait - in jail - five months before the court assigned a lawyer. Regardless, this limited legal defense may not be enough to support a case in which the US Government has invested significant time and effort.
Anderson claims he has no money to fund his defense, and his legal team has left him for non-payment of fees. He has been assigned a public defender, and is soliciting funds via his web site for his defense:
Contributions are urgently needed to support Walt's legal defense and to keep this website running! If Walt can be kept in jail for reading books, you or someone you love may be next. Help stop this disgusting incursion on the civil liberties of American citizens!
Please send checks to:
Walt Anderson
123 Main Street
Your Town, USA
Be sure and write "Anderson Defense" in the Memo on the check - all funds raised will be placed in a special account and a strict accounting of funds raised and disbursed will be publicly posted on this website.
We are also working on a PayPal option - that's coming soon! Stay tuned
Well, this is a strange tale indeed! What I had assumed was another example of Justice Department incompetence and partisan politics seems to be, ummm, errr... I'm just not sure what to make of it! Feel free to share your opinions, if you have one!
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