Guilty Plea in Record Tax Case
Walter Anderson, a telecommunications and space entrepreneur, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of federal tax evasion for failing to report $365 million in income, in what prosecutors said was the largest personal-tax evasion case in U.S. history.
Anderson, 52, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington. Under terms of a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors, he faces as many as 10 years in prison and must pay full restitution to the government. Sentencing was set for Jan. 16.
Anderson was accused of earning hundreds of millions of dollars from investments in offshore businesses that weren’t reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
Officials said Anderson’s tax troubles began in 1992, when he realized the merger of his first successful company, Mid-Atlantic Telecom, with another would trigger taxable income.
Anderson gained international attention in the late 1990s when he tried to convert the Russian space station Mir into a tourist attraction.
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