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February 11, 2012

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Retired FBI agent pleads guilty to tax evasion in ‘sovereign citizens’ case

By Steve Kanigher

Monday, March 8, 2010 | 4:07 p.m.

A retired FBI agent pleaded guilty Friday to evading about $109,000 in personal income taxes, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said today.

Jan Lindsey, 67, of Henderson pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan to one count of felony tax evasion and is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.

According to the plea agreement, Lindsey worked as an FBI agent for 26 years and retired from the agency in 1995. For the next 10 years, Lindsey worked for the FBI as a contractor performing background investigations. Prior to 1999, Lindsey timely filed tax returns with the IRS.

Beginning in 1999, Lindsey started using illegal tax avoidance methods to file his and his wife’s joint tax returns. Lindsey failed to timely file or pay federal income tax for the years 1999 through 2006, and committed various acts that were designed to hide his income and assets from the IRS. He placed assets in nominee names, presented or recorded fraudulent documents in an attempt to obtain lien and levy releases on his property, filed false returns after liabilities were assessed in an attempt to reduce or eliminate his unpaid liability, and presented frivolous financial or negotiable instruments to the Treasury Department in claimed payment of his outstanding tax liability.

Lindsey was arrested in May with three others after a three-year investigation by the Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force into allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and possession of unregistered machine guns by members of a "sovereign citizens" anti-government movement.

Co-defendants Samuel Davis, 54, of Council, Idaho, and Shawn Rice, 46, of Seligman, Ariz., are scheduled for trial beginning June 21. Co-defendant Harold Call, 67, of Las Vegas is currently scheduled for trial beginning March 22. But a stipulation to continue the trial date is pending before the court.

According to court records, from March 2008 through the date of the indictment, Davis and Rice allegedly laundered for undercover FBI agents roughly $1.3 million, which they had been told were proceeds of a bank fraud scheme.

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