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After a five-year investigation and dozens of court actions, accountant Lowell Baisden was convicted Monday of aiding and abetting tax evasion on behalf of North Platte medical professionals.
Biasden pleaded guilty to the charge. He faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped three other charges against Baisden.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf set Baisdens sentencing for noon on Jan. 12.
Baisden's prosecution began in 2006, when the U.S. Treasury Department filed action in California federal court, accusing Baisden and his brother-in-law, anesthesiologist Micheal Koning of North Platte, of funneling money to dummy Nevada corporations to avoid paying taxes.
The scheme had allegedly been going on for at least seven years, since 1999.
It began, according to the federal lawsuit, when Koning introduced Baisden to other physicians and medical employees in North Platte.
Koning ran a corporation called Anesthesia Consultants of Nebraska and provided exclusive anesthesia services to Great Plains Regional Medical Center in 2002. Baisden, a certified public accountant, lived in Bakersfield, Calif.
Over the years, Susan Baisden-Koning, a former certified public accountant and Michael Konings wife, also pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion. The Lincoln Journal-Star reported her plea was part of a deal with prosecutors that involves nearly $1 million in restitution.
As time went on, more indictments were handed down against Baisden, alleging he willfully attempted to shield taxes for Dr. Michael Trierweiler and his wife Deanna, along with Drs. Walter and Deborah Weaver and Donald and Kathryn Snoozy, all of North Platte.
They were all subsequently convicted.
The Weavers pleaded guilty to evading nearly $129,000 in taxes for 2003.
Michael Trierweiler pleaded guilty to evading nearly $93,000 in taxes for 2003 and his wife, Deanna, admitted she failed to pay taxes on two counts, in 2003 and 2004.
The Snoozys were convicted of failing to report $150,230 in income to the IRS in 2003 and $169,473 in 2004.
The Trierweilers, Weavers and Snoozeys have not yet been sentenced. Their date with justice was postponed because they agreed to be cooperating witnesses and testify against Baisden in his trial, the U.S. attorney's office said.
In court Monday, Baisden said he understood the charges.
I plead guilty, he said.
Under questioning from Kopf, Baisden said he pleaded guilty to accept responsibility for my behavior" and he willfully assisted Micheal and Susan Koening in 2003 to evade taxes.
He also said he is free of drugs, alcohol and prescription medications.
The tax fraud scheme reportedly attempted to shield more than $1.5 million in individual income taxes from the federal government. It stunned the North Platte community and launched waves of lawsuits and countersuits.
In just one of the related actions, two other North Platte residents, Evan Geilenkirchen and his wife Jane, filed a lawsuit against Baisden for improperly filing their tax returns for 2002 and for not filing returns for them for 2003 and 2004.
Warnings
Two employees of Konings, anesthetists Burt McKeag and Ron Bourne, phoned the IRS to report suspected criminal wrongdoing by Baisden and Koning, according to court records.
Bob McChesney, a North Platte certified public accountant, sent a letter in January 2004 to the U. S. Postal Service and Trierweiler along with other physicians accusing Baisden and Koning of illegal tax evasion schemes, court records show.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against that type of scheme years ago, McChesney told the Bulletin. That letter was to terminate relationships due to the scheme.
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