Walter Anderson (tax Evader) - Federal Tax Convictions

Federal Tax Convictions

The United State Government conducted an extensive investigation into Mr. Anderson's business and personal activities.

Walt Anderson was arrested on February 26, 2005 at Dulles International Airport as he was returning from London. He was accused of hiding his wealth in off-shore companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands in an attempt to avoid taxation on his income. The Federal District Court of the District of Columbia later determined that Anderson did not have substantial financial resources. The companies that Mr. Anderson managed reportedly earned nearly $500 million in revenue during a five-year period..

Anderson was held in the Washington DC jail for over 2 years. The prosecutors claimed he was a flight risk and asked the judge to hold him without bail. On September 8, 2006, Anderson pleaded guilty to two felony counts of evading federal income tax (for filing tax returns in which he failed to report over $126,303,951 of income for year 1998 and over $238,561,316 of income for year 1999) under 26 U.S.C. § 7201 and one felony count of defrauding the District of Columbia under section 3221(a) of title 22 of the District of Columbia Code. As part of the plea agreement, Anderson admitted to hiding $365 million of income by using aliases, shell companies, offshore tax havens, and secret accounts. For the year 1998, the year for which Anderson admitted to having earned more than $126 million, he had claimed an income of $67,939 on his federal income tax return, for which he had paid only $495 in taxes. Soon after he pleaded guilty, he was sent to a minimum security facility.

On June 15, 2007, federal district judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that Anderson would not have to pay $100 to $175 million of his restitution to the federal government due to a typographical error by the government in the plea agreement. In his ruling, Friedman stated that he did not have the authority to "read something into a contract that is not there or to interpret uncertain language in the government's favor". Anderson will still have to pay $23 million in restitution to the District of Columbia government, and the government may sue for the difference in civil court.

According to a web site entitled "JusticeForWalt": "On June 12, 2009 the Tax Court issued an ORDER accepting the IRS decision to conceded all the tax and penalty issue for 1995, 1996 and 1997. The ORDER indicated that a judgment for those years would be entered in Walter Anderson's favor."

On March 7, 2011, the U.S. Tax Court issued a decision ordering Walter Anderson to pay $141,497,773 in tax deficiencies and $105,984,341 in penalties for a total of $247,482,114 owed to the IRS. Additional interest on the $247,482,114 Anderson owes could amount to an estimated $248,962,929.

On September 7, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the Tax Court's March 7, 2012 ruling against Walter Anderson "determining civil tax deficiencies and fraud penalties for tax years 1995 through 1999". The Third Circuit held "that his arguments were without merit."

CNBC television program "The American Tax Cheat," April 14, 2011 featured Walter Anderson speaking in an interview from federal prison.

At this link, Anderson speaks in an internet radio interview about his legal case and his plans to continue his philanthropic assistance of space development: http://www.thespaceshow.com/detail.asp?q=1237. He also speaks at length on his detention and about his contention that he was effectively unable to defend himself in the court. He explains why he believes he was forced to plead guilty, despite the fact that he considers himself innocent.

Anderson's current address is the federal Community Corrections Office (CCM Washington, DC), at Annapolis Junction, Maryland. His projected release date is December 29, 2012.