A Riverside County man has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for tax fraud involving the sale of memorabilia signed by Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee. Mac Martin Anderson, 59, from Corona, received this sentence from United States District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato. Alongside his prison term, Anderson has been ordered to pay $482,833 in restitution.
Anderson pleaded guilty on March 11 to two counts of willfully subscribing to a false tax return. From 2015 to 2018, he sold items autographed by Stan Lee at comic conventions and did not report over $1.2 million in income from these sales to the IRS.
The IRS considered the payments Anderson received as regular income that should have been reported on his tax returns for each year he made sales. He admitted that he owed approximately $482,833 in taxes on this income.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Aveis of the Major Frauds Section and Sarah E. Spielberger of the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section.
