The State - News from Aug. 1, 1986

Federal tax officials have seized two automobiles owned by a man charged with illegally diverting two aircraft to Libya for use as military refueling planes, an IRS spokesman said. Franklin Corcoran’s Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce and new Corvette were seized after the IRS filed a lien of $710,254 against him for allegedly evading payment on income earned in 1985. Corcoran, 53, who lives in Shell Beach, 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is one of five Americans indicted by a federal grand jury on July 22. The men allegedly obtained a Commerce Department export license for two Lockheed L-100-36 transport planes by falsely stating that the planes would be used for oil exploration in the West African nation of Benin. The indictment alleges that the men bought the civilian versions of Lockheed’s C-130 Hercules military transport for diversion to Libya and conversion to aerial tankers to refuel Libyan fighter planes.