Kellyville Businessman Convicted Of Tax Fraud

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- A Kellyville businessman was sentenced to 180 months in a federal penitentiary Friday for tax evasion and attempting to defraud the United States government.

Lindsey Kent Springer, 44, used the name Bondage Breakers Ministry to solicit and receive money, according to United States Attorney Thomas Scott Woodward.

"His stated purpose for Bondage Breakers Ministry was ‘to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service,'" Woodward said.

Springer's attorney, Oscar Amos Stilley, 46, of Arkansas, was also found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and tax evasion.

Both men were found guilty in a jury trial last November of all counts with which they were charged in a Grand Jury Indictment returned in March 2009.

Stilley, an attorney and tax advisor, assisted Springer's tax evasion scheme through a variety of means, Woodward said. Stilley maintained an interest bearing account, called an Arkansas IOLTA Foundation Trust account, which lawyers use to deposit and hold client funds.

The pair allegedly used the IOLTA account and various other devices such as cashier's checks, check cashing services, money orders, cash and other means to conceal Springer's actual income and avoid creating the usual records of financial institutions. Springer told IRS employees that all funds he receives are gifts and donations to his ministry, and that he does not have any income. He also stated he does not provide any services for payment.

There were numerous transactions involving hundreds of thousands of dollars between Springer and Stilley that flowed through the IOLTA account, such as $166,000 paid out in August 2005 to purchase a motor home titled in the name of Springer and his wife, and a September 2005 payment of $25,813 to purchase a Lexus automobile titled in Springer's name.