Trial Set for Sovereign 鈥楨lder鈥� in New York Accused of Tax Fraud
A federal trial is slated to begin this week in Albany, N.Y., for an orthodontist long considered an 鈥渆lder鈥� in the and who now faces charges of filing bogus tax returns between 2007 and 2010 in an effort to collect millions in refunds.
Glenn Richard Unger, 62, who often uses the alias 鈥淒r. Sam Kennedy,鈥� is accused of trying to obtain $36 million from the IRS through bogus tax returns. Federal prosecutors have also accused him of scamming another orthodontist, according to the of Albany.
In 2006, according to prosecutors, Unger told Dr. William O鈥橠onnell that he was giving up his dental practice to do 鈥渕issionary work鈥� and take care of his ill wife.
鈥淥'Donnell agreed to accept Unger's patients in about May 2006 assuming he鈥檇 be paid for his future work,鈥� Assistant U.S. Attorney Ransom Reynolds wrote in a trial brief. But what he didn鈥檛 know was that the patients had already prepaid Unger for the future orthodontic care they needed.
Unger allegedly gave O鈥橠onnell a false promissory note of $200,000. 鈥淯naware that the note was fictitious, O'Donnell attempted to deposit the note at his bank and was told it was worthless,鈥� Reynolds said.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in front of Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy.
As host of the online radio show 鈥淭ake No Prisoners,鈥� Unger has been a in the . He was one of the more secretive sovereigns in the country 鈥� he did not maintain a marketing website and didn鈥檛 allow followers to videotape his speaking engagements 鈥� but his influence ran deep. He promoted his 鈥淏eneficiaries in Commerce鈥� program as a cure-all for everything from tax bills and debt elimination to what he calls 鈥減rison extraction.鈥�
Along with , who was earlier this year, Unger was one of the original 鈥渆lders鈥� of the now-defunct Guardians for the free Republics, which in 2010 became the focus of an FBI investigation after the group sent letters to all 50 state governors demanding they leave office. In the scrutiny that followed, Unger began fighting for control of the Guardians, which collapsed amid the tensions, only to regroup months later as the .
