Vitamin peddler Almon Braswell, who received a pardon from Bill Clinton, was sentenced this week for conspiring to evade millions of dollars in corporate income taxes for his Marina del Rey, Calif.,-based mail order business.

From the AP:

Almon Glenn Braswell, 60, admitted in March that his Gero Vita International Inc. underpaid its taxes by $4.5 million. With penalties and interest, the company now owes $10.5 million in taxes, authorities have said… Braswell was arrested in January 2003 at his home in Miami Beach, Fla. Prosecutors accused him of using a Bermuda company he controlled, Deleon Global Trading Ltd., to make it appear that Gero Vita was buying raw materials from Deleon — thereby increasing Gero Vita’s expenses for tax purposes.

In 1983, Braswell was convicted of mail fraud and perjury in relation to false claims about a baldness treatment and sentenced to three years in federal prison. Eighteen years later, he was among 140 people pardoned before Clinton left office.

At a hearing last January, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Rochmes persuaded a magistrate judge to deny bail for Braswell until his net worth could be sorted out.

The government suspects Braswell was “squirreling away” large amounts of money in tax havens such as Bermuda so he could escape if he ever again faced felony charges, Rochmes said.

Tax filings show Braswell put $52 million in an account in Liechtenstein in addition to the millions the government believes he has in other accounts, Rochmes said.

My dogged friends at Quackwatch have been on Braswell’s case for years. More info here on Braswell’s ties not only to Clinton, but also to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Republican Party officials later returned $175,000 of Brawell’s contributions. They also returned a $100,000 check Braswell gave at a South Florida fundraiser for George W. Bush.

More on the Clinton pardon:

As the scandal broke, dozens of reporters began trying to understand why Clinton pardoned Braswell. So far, it has come to light that the attorney who actually delivered the pardon application was Hillary Clinton’s brother Hugh Rodham, who was promised payment of $200,000 if the pardon was granted. Bill Clinton has stated that he was unaware of Braswell’s pending legal troubles, and both Bill and Hillary Clinton denied knowing that Hugh Rodham was advocating for Braswell…

But of course.

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