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Jailed Anderson: Robin Hood of Space?

Mar 23, 2005 17: 45 EST
Robin Hood of Space or simple tax cheat? Pythom decided to check in with Walt Anderson. Denied bail he was ordered to remain in jail at least until his next court appearance mid-late March. In the mean, Thomas Andrew Olson wrote up his own appeal for the tech entrepreneur.

Published on LewRockwell.com ("an opponent of the central state, its wars and its socialism"), the open letter begins with a telling headline: "Free Anderson."

Gandhi and Howard Stern

Thomas Olson is an occasional contributor to The Space Review, advocate of the Space Frontier Foundation and a Founding member of the Mars Society.

"Civil disobedience is needed at times of unjust law," he writes in the open letter; citing Thoreau. In fact, the letter is packed with breakneck name dropping; Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr share space with Michael Milken and Howard Stern.

Openly against government

How come? Well, says Thomas, this is a trophy case; IRS bureaucrats getting a 'trophy' arrest in time for tax season - "just as Gullianis bust of Milkens and the $500 million deal with Sirius currently investigated by the SEC for possible insider trading violations by members of his staff and outside columnists close to him".

These guys only fault is that they refuse to connect with the 'right circle' and, in the case of Stern and Anderson, are openly against government intrusions into our lives, writes Olson; "in the eyes of Big Brother, these people can be sacrificed as a lesson to the rest in the real exercise of government power".

Reads unusual books and wears black clothes

If nothing else, the letter is an interesting 'second opinion' and insight in the private man Anderson: "Those who have worked with him attest that, despite his sometimes mercurial moods and intense desire for privacy, Anderson was also a man of unimpeachable integrity, both in his personal and business dealings."

And Olson continues: "I mean, my God, he reads unusual books and he wears black clothes. He must, therefore, be a deviant, malcontent tax evader!"

What books are they? Check the links section.

Anderson puzzled about the government's motives

Finally, Olson brings a word from the man himself; "An associate spoke directly with Anderson today, and he claimed to be extremely puzzled about the government's motives, in that he had offered to come in whenever they asked and thus was completely surprised at being arrested at the end of a long flight."

"It seems to me from that, that Anderson genuinely believes he did nothing illegal to protect his assets, actions which are virtually identical to what thousands of other wealthy citizens do to protect theirs," end Olson his fiery letter.

The good thing for the rest of us is, that some of Anderson's "missing" tax money at least went to some hands-on Space projects, unlike some of the tax money legally wasted by NASA. But do we really have a Robin Hood of Space unjustly jailed? Maybe, and maybe not. Hopefully, the trial will shed some light on the man in black.

Gold & Appel Venture Capital founder Walt Anderson (51), was arrested at a Washington airport, in what federal prosecutors call the largest criminal case of individual tax evasion. Anderson started Orbital Recovery (repositioning of telecomm satellites), after the AT&T breakup, and G&A in 1992, teaming up with the Russian builders of the Mir ("peace") space station in 2000. Investing 20 million, he formed MirCorp, a company designed to turn the Russian Space Station commercial. Dennis Tito and Reality TV producer Mark Burnett were some of the famous names in the project.

Image of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood, courtesy of adorocinema.

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