An Arizona tax rebel has received a nine-year prison sentence. The sentence given to Richard Kellogg Armstrong, 77, of Prescott, Ariz. and runs consecutively to a 660-day prison term imposed for 10 acts of contempt of court. He was also fined more than $1 million for the latter.
Armstrong also faces three years of supervised released after the prison term and must pay the Internal Revenue Service $1.7 million and forfeit two residences and a personal aircraft. Codefendant Curtis L. Morris, age 43, of Elizabeth, Colo., is scheduled to be sentenced on November 6.
In April, a jury found Armstrong gulty of one count of mail fraude eight counts of filing false claims against the United States, three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Armstrong Morris and others were accused of fiilng bogus tax returns for large refunds based on 1099-OID forms. Armstrong received over $1.6 million in fake refunds and then moved the money into shell companies and offshore bank accounts.