Ex-IRS attorney gets eight years in securities scam

Jace Radke

Monday, Nov. 11, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

Richard Stockton has only an old mobile home and a small Honda left after losing more than $565,000 in a securities scam that defrauded about 350 investors of $3.25 million.

On Friday in federal court Stockton finally got the chance to face Max Tanner, a Las Vegas attorney who was found guilty of money laundering, mail fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud for his part in the scam.

"I wake up in the middle of the night thinking that I've lost everything," Stockton, a retired IRS agent who lives in Florida, told U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson during Tanner's sentencing. "There are people here at this sentencing that will tell you he (Tanner) is a great guy, but in my opinion he is a great thief.

"He's worse than a combination of Jesse James and John Dillinger."

Tanner, a former IRS attorney, was sentenced by Dawson to eight years in prison and ordered to pay more than $3.25 million in restitution. Tanner was taken into custody after the ruling and a 20-minute visit with family members in the courtroom.

"The defendant put forces in motion or contributed to the forces that ended up destroying (the victims) financially," Dawson said.

Tanner was found guilty of 37 felony counts for his part in the scheme that distributed false information about two companies -- Maid Aide, a residential cleaning service, and CFE Trucking Co. of Tampa, Fla.

Tanner paid kickbacks to brokers and cold callers working out of boiler rooms in New York and other East Coast cities in exchange for their promoting and selling of Maid Aide stock at inflated prices, according to court documents.

Tanner was also found guilty of tax evasion and filing false tax returns to avoid paying $2 million in taxes on an estimated $10 million in stock sales.

Mark Lytle, a trial attorney with the Justice Department's tax division, argued that because of Tanner's wealth and what he called a "failure to accept responsibility," he should be taken into custody immediately.

Tanner apologized to Stockton and three other victims who attended the sentencing, but Stockton said it wasn't enough.

"I was just hoping that he'd get as long a sentence as possible, because he took everything I had," Stockton said. "I'm happy with the outcome."