An accountant’s innocent mistake sparked a scheme...

An accountant’s innocent mistake sparked a scheme by boxing promoter Don King to evade thousands of dollars in federal income taxes, a federal prosecutor said at the opening of King’s trial in New York.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roanne L. Mann told jurors that King and his top aide and co-defendant, Constance Harper, kept more than $1 million in payments that were supposed to have gone to King’s company between 1978 and 1980. After the accountant’s error made them realize that the “skimming” of cash could go undetected, King and Harper allegedly conspired to keep company bookkeepers in the dark about their activities.

King and Harper, who is a vice president at Don King Productions, face 20 counts charging them with tax evasion, conspiracy and filing false tax returns. Their trial before U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa is expected to last between one and two months.