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{{short description|American telecommunications entrepreneur}}
{{other people||Walter Anderson (disambiguation)}}
{{other people||Walter Anderson (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
'''Walter C. Anderson''' (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for commercial space travel. He began his career in telecommunications and founded several companies including Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984 and Esprit Telecom in 1992, which were acquired by [[Frontier Communications]] and Global TeleSystems Group, respectively. He co-founded the [[International Space University]] and provided financial support for the [[Space Frontier Foundation]] during its creation. Anderson also invested in a number of space ventures including [[Rotary Rocket]], a company that attempted to develop a reusable, single-stage launch vehicle with the aid of helicopter rotors. He founded MirCorp, an unsuccessful venture to privatize the [[Mir]] space station, and Orbital Recovery Corporation, a company developing technology to capture and repair telecommunication satellites.


In the mid 2000s, Anderson pled guilty to charges of tax evasion and was sentenced to nine years in prison. After his release in 2012, he founded Avealto a company developing a fleet of [[high-altitude platforms]].
'''Walter C. Anderson''' (born 1953) is an [[United States|American]] telecommunications entrepreneur, philanthropist, investor, and space advocate.


==Early career==
==Early life==
Walter C. Anderson<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=March 28, 2007|title=Entrepreneur Gets 9 Years in Tax Case|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28tax.html|access-date=July 14, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> was born '''Walter Anderson Crump''' in 1953.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Johnston|first=David Cay|date=March 2, 2005|title=Man of Many Names Now Called No. 1 Tax Cheat|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/02/business/man-of-many-names-now-called-no-1-tax-cheat.html|access-date=July 14, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Weil|first=Elizabeth|date=July 23, 2000|title=American Megamillionaire Gets Russki Space Heap!|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000723mag-millionaire.html|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=The New York Times}}</ref> He grew up in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=":2" />


==Career==
Anderson began his [[telecommunications]] career as a [[sales]]man at [[MCI Communications]] in 1979.


Anderson began his career in the telecommunications industry at [[MCI Communications]] in 1979.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Hilzenrath|first1=David S.|last2=Leonnig|first2=Carol D.|last3=Noguchi|first3=Yuki|date=March 4, 2005|title=Tax Case Defendant Says Money Was to Do Good|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/03/04/tax-case-defendant-says-money-was-to-do-good/b3e4830f-3d6d-4b39-8a0f-731be1f9467d/|access-date=July 14, 2021}}</ref> He founded Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984.<ref name=":2" /> Mid-Atlantic Telecom was a long-distance telephone service carrier. The company was the first to combine telephone and voicemail services.<ref name=":2" /> Anderson served as president and chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Telecom until the early 1990s<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Gunning|first=Thomas P.|date=July 17, 2001|title=FORM 10-K/A: Covista Communications Inc. SEC Filings|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/CVST/SecFilings?subview=secarticle&sid=313141&guid=1592054&type=1|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=MarketWatch|publisher=Covista Communications Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Hilzenrath|first=David S.|date=April 18, 2005|title=$200,000,000|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2005/04/18/200000000/d0982ff4-e313-4c07-a3a1-8519b5d3ad3a/|access-date=July 14, 2021}}</ref> when the company was acquired by [[Rochester Telephone Corporation]] (now [[Frontier Communications]]).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|last=Knight|first=Jerry|date=December 9, 1998|title=Mclean Firm to Acquire Esprit Telecom|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1998/12/09/mclean-firm-to-acquire-esprit-telecom/cfb400ad-d89c-47d6-9bc0-019d2b454c8e/|access-date=July 14, 2021}}</ref>
In 1984, he founded Mid-Atlantic Telecom with $100,000 in seed capital. In 1993 it was acquired for $18M.


In 1988, Anderson co-founded the [[International Space University]] as an early investor.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Hill|first=Jeffrey|date=June 2021|title=Global Entrepreneurs Practice Their Pitches for Startup Space 2021|url=http://interactive.satellitetoday.com/via/june-2021/global-entrepreneurs-practice-their-pitches-for-startup-space-2021/|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=Via Satellite}}</ref> He provided financial support for the [[Space Frontier Foundation]] during its creation in 1991.<ref name=":2" /> The following year, he founded Esprit Telecom based in London,<ref name=":4" /> taking advantage of early telecom deregulation in the U.K.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|date=May 2021|title=After Loon. Can HAPs Rise Again?|journal=Satellite Mobility World|volume=6|issue=5|pages=20–26}}</ref> Anderson served as chairman of the company until November 1998.<ref name=":3" /> The following month, Global TeleSystems Group, a US publicly traded company, acquired Esprit for nearly $1 billion.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> Anderson was also a major shareholder of Telco Communications Group before its acquisition by [[Excel Communications]] for $1.2 billion.<ref name=":4" />
In 1992, he founded Esprit Telecom plc (London), taking advantage of early telecom deregulation in the EU countries. In 1999 GTS (a US publicly traded company) acquired Esprit for $985M.


In the mid to late 1990s, Anderson was an early investor in Erol's Internet, which expanded into one of the largest [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up ISPs]]. Erol's was acquired by [[RCN Corporation]] in 1998, netting Anderson stock in RCN worth $25 million.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Knight|first=Jerry|date=January 26, 1998|title=In Bypassing an Ipo, Erol's Grabs an Offer Too Good to Refuse|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1998/01/26/in-bypassing-an-ipo-erols-grabs-an-offer-too-good-to-refuse/977b9d39-63e2-4408-a373-110d39dd7e31/|access-date=July 14, 2021}}</ref> The same year, Anderson became chairman of Worldxchange Communications. He served in the position until December 2000 when the company was sold to World Access. He also served as chairman of Covista Communications from 1999 to 2001.<ref name=":3" />
From 1996-98, Anderson made a strategic investment of $2.5M in Erol’s Internet, which he helped expand into one of the largest dial-up ISPs. Erol’s was acquired by RCN in 1998, netting a 5x return for Anderson’s investment.


Anderson had been an ardent supporter of the development of commercial space activities. He was an early-stage investor in many private space ventures in the 1990s and early 2000s, and one of the first "astropreneurs".<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|date=September 5, 2007|title=Top 10 influential space thinkers|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526201-400-top-10-influential-space-thinkers/|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=New Scientist|language=en-US}}</ref> His highest-profile space investment was MirCorp, the late 1990s start-up that briefly privatized Russia's aging [[Mir]] space station.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Sandra|date=August 4, 2015|title=Jeffrey Manber Oral History|url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/ISS/ManberJ/ManberJ_8-4-15.htm|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=Johnson Space Center|publisher=NASA}}</ref> He reportedly invested as much as $30 million into the venture.<ref name=":7" /> From 1996 and 1999, Anderson was also an investor in [[Rotary Rocket]],<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|last=David|first=Leonard|date=October 16, 2013|title=How Late Author Tom Clancy Supported Private Spaceflight|url=https://www.space.com/23222-tom-clancy-private-spaceflight-supporter.html|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=Space.com|language=en}}</ref> a now-defunct venture to develop a reusable [[single-stage-to-orbit]] crewed [[spacecraft]] that hoped to combine the rotors of a helicopter with rocketry to achieve orbit.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Schonfeld|first=Erick|date=March 20, 2000|title=Going Long One thing stands in the way of a thriving private space industry: finding a cheap way to get there. It ain't for lack of trying.|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/20/276385/index.htm|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=CNN Money}}</ref> In the early 2000s, Anderson also founded and served as CEO of Orbital Recovery Corporation,<ref name=":1" /> a company developing technology to capture and repair telecommunication satellites.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Knight|first=Will|date=September 2, 2002|title=Space tug could revive sleeping satellites|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2746-space-tug-could-revive-sleeping-satellites/|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=New Scientist|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1999, Anderson was elected as Chairman of the Board of Worldxchange Communications


In the mid 2000s, he was accused of not reporting income from investments in non-US companies.<ref name=":0" /> Anderson was arrested on February 26, 2005, at [[Dulles International Airport]] as he was returning from [[London]].<ref name="MSNBC">{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Pete|author-link=Pete Williams (journalist)|date=February 28, 2005|title=Entrepreneur accused of biggest-ever tax scam|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7046153|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=NBC News|language=en}}</ref><ref name="WaPo2">{{Cite news|last=Weiss|first=Eric M.|date=September 9, 2006|title=Telecom Mogul Guilty of Tax Scam|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801126.html|access-date=July 14, 2021}}</ref> He was held in the Washington, D.C. jail for more than 2 years,<ref name=":0" /> before he pled guilty to some of the charges against him in September 2006.<ref name="WaPo2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Duck|first=Jennifer|date=September 8, 2006|others=Associated Press|title=Biggest Tax Cheat Ever Pleads Guilty|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/story?id=2411264&page=1|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=ABC News|language=en}}</ref> He was sentenced to nine years in prison in March 2007.<ref name=":0" /> In June 2007, federal district judge [[Paul L. Friedman]] ruled that Anderson would not have to pay any restitution to the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] due to a [[typographical error]] by the government in the plea agreement but Anderson would still have to pay restitution to the District of Columbia government.<ref>{{Cite news|date=June 15, 2007|title=Judge can't fix government's $100 million boo-boo|work=CNN|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/06/15/big.mistake.ap/index.html|url-status=dead|access-date=July 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713233050/http://www.cnn.com:80/2007/LAW/06/15/big.mistake.ap/index.html|archive-date=July 13, 2007}}</ref> Anderson was released at the end of 2012 after serving the last few months of his term at home in Virginia.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McElhatton|first=Jim|date=August 30, 2012|title=Nearing end of sentence, top tax evader still eyes vindication|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/30/nearing-end-of-sentence-top-tax-evader-still-eyes-/|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=The Washington Times|language=en-US}}</ref>
Anderson was a seed/early-stage investor in many private space ventures in the 1990s and early 2000s, and paved the way for the "[[astropreneurs]]" who followed. His highest-profile space investment was MirCorp, the late 1990s start-up that briefly privatized Russia's aging Mir space station. He reportedly invested as much as $30 million into the venture. He also invested a similar sum into Rotary Rocket, a precursor to private space launch companies like SpaceX and Blue origin.


In September 2007, Anderson was named by the New Scientist as one of the "Top 10 Influential Space Thinkers".<ref name=":7" /> He was also featured in ''[[Orphans of Apollo]]'', a documentary about MirCorp.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Foust|first=Jeff|date=July 28, 2008|title=Preview: Orphans of Apollo|url=https://thespacereview.com/article/1176/1|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=The Space Review}}</ref>
==Commercial space support and advocacy==


In 2013, Anderson founded Avealto Ltd., based in the UK. Avealto was founded to finance, construct and operate a fleet of [[high-altitude platforms]].<ref name=":5" /> Since then, the company has gained an airworthiness certification for the FAA for a 28-meter-long test vehicle.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> The final design developed by Anderson and co-founder David Chambers is a 100-meter-long helium airship with a payload of telecommunications equipment. The airship would float in a stationary position guided by GPS tracking.<ref name=":6" />
In 1988, Anderson co-founded the [[International Space University]] [[(ISU)]], and provided advice and support to the founding team.

ISU was founded in 1987 and held its first summer session program (SSP) in the summer of 1988 at the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The ISU operates a multicultural and multidisciplinary graduate space studies program. ISU has held SSPs annually in varying locations around the world since the inaugural 1988 session. In 1995 it began offering a Masters program from its permanent campus in [[Strasbourg]], [[France]]. Anderson was a permanent member and served on its Board of Directors for its initial five years of operations.

Anderson has been a leader in promoting the commercial development of space. He believes that the development of space resources can help to resolve many of the challenges facing the entire planet. He was a major supporter of the [[Space Frontier Foundation]] from its founding in 1988. He also created and endowed the [[Foundation for the Nongovernmental Development of Space]] [[(FINDS}]], which has provided funding for projects such as the "asteroid watch" and sponsored the [[CATS Prize]] (Cheap Access To Space).

In 2007, Anderson was hailed by New Scientist Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Influential Space Thinkers" <ref>14 http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19526201.600</ref>

==MirCorp==

Anderson had been an ardent supporter of the development of commercial space activities.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} Anderson provided significant funding to not-for-profit [[Space Frontier Foundation]] and served on their Board of Directors.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}

In 1999, the Russian government was suffering severe financial difficulties. They could no longer support the Mir Space Station. RSC Energia, the Russian organization that had built the Mir Station had become a private company and held “ownership” of the Mir Station.<ref name=Manber>"Selling Peace - Inside the Soviet Conspiracy That Transformed then U.S. Space Program" {{ISBN|9781-926592-08-4}} - ISSN 1496-6921 ©2009 Apogee Books/Jeffrey Manber</ref>

Anderson founded MirCorp to work in partnership with RSC Energia. Anderson’s team at MirCorp negotiated a "lease" of the Mir station on behalf of MirCorp, then began plans to commercialize and renovate the Mir Station[citation needed]

MirCorp signed up the first commercial space tourist, Dennis Tito, to fly to the Mir station.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} MirCorp was preparing for a public offering supported by [[Barclays Investment Bank|Barclays Capital]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} The funds from the offering would be used to refurbish and expand the Mir station for commercial operations which would include media, manufacturing, orbit servicing and science activities. MirCorp launched the first "private manned mission" in history to the Mir to evaluate its condition and do some minor upgrades.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}

The NASA administrator at that time, Dan Goldin, made a number of public comments related to MirCorp commercial activities.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} He claimed that MirCorp was utilizing resources which the Russian Space Agency and RSC Energia had committed to the International Space Station.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}
NASA and the United States government pressured the Russian Space Agency to [[Atmospheric entry|de-orbit]] the Mir and used both political and financial pressure.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} NASA officials made calls to United States corporations involved in space activities to warn them not to partner with or invest in MirCorp if they ever wanted to get another contract.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} In April 2001, the Mir was de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean. MirCorp was only four months away from the planned date of their public offering at that time.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}The MirCorp story is profiled in the documentary film ''[[Orphans of Apollo]]''. <ref name=Foust>{{cite journal|last=Foust|first=Jeff|title=Preview: Orphans of Apollo|journal=The Space Review|date=July 20, 2008|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1176/1|accessdate=30 January 2013}}</ref>

Following the destruction of the Mir Station, the Russian crew and Tito continued to train for a flight to the new Russian section of ISS, in lieu of Mir. This was resisted heavily by Dan Goldin’s NASA, claiming a “private citizen” had no right to go to ISS, despite paying his own way. When the crew went to Houston to cross-train with US astronauts, Tito was initially denied entry. His two Russian cohorts threatened to return to Russia if Tito was not allowed in. Reluctantly, bowing to international pressure, NASA opened its doors to Tito, and ultimately, the flight to ISS flew as scheduled, giving Dennis Tito the honor of being the first Space Tourist, thanks largely to Walt Anderson’s efforts and advocacy. {{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

==Federal tax convictions==

From 2002 to 2005, the United States government conducted an extensive investigation into Mr. Anderson's business and personal activities. Despite Mr. Anderson’s transparent cooperation with the IRS and the US Department of Justice over a 3-year period, he was arrested on February 26, 2005, Anderson was arrested on February 26, 2005, at [[Dulles International Airport]] as he was returning from [[London]] on business.<ref name="MSNBC">[[Pete Williams (journalist)|Williams, Pete]].[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7046153 Entrepreneur accused of biggest-ever tax scam]. ''[[NBC News]]''. March 3, 2005.</ref><ref name="WaPo2">Weiss, Eric M. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801126.html Telecom Mogul Guilty of Tax Scam]. ''[[The Washington Post]]''. September 9, 2006.</ref> He was accused of illegally hiding wealth off-shore. The Federal District Court of the District of Columbia later determined that Anderson did not have substantial financial resources, and he was not able to continue paying private lawyers to represent him. He was assigned a public defender.

Anderson was held in the Washington, D.C. jail for over 2 years,a place notorious for bad living conditions, and where the average length of stay for an accused person awaiting trial was 3-6 months.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} The prosecutors claimed he was a flight risk and convinced the judge to hold him without bail, despite Anderson’s demonstrated lifelong ties to the DC community. On September 8, 2006, Anderson, out of resources, his health at risk, his family, friends and business associates harassed and threatened by government agents, and after being held in solitary confinement for over 7 months, agreed to plead guilty to some of the charges against him. <ref>See generally ''United States v. Anderson'', case no. 1:05-cr-00066-PLF-1, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, on counts 5, 6, and 11 of the Superseding Indictment at docket entry 68.</ref><ref>For more detail, see also ''United States v. Walter Anderson'', 545 F.3d 1072 (D.C. Cir. 2008), at [https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?q=tax+%22Walter+Anderson%22&hl=en&as_sdt=3,44&case=3154193258055848311&scilh=0].</ref>

On June 15, 2007, [[United States federal judge|federal district judge]] Paul L. Friedman ruled that Anderson would not have to pay any restitution to the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] due to a [[typographical error]] by the government in the plea agreement. In his ruling, Friedman stated that he did not have the authority to "read something into a contract that is not there or to interpret uncertain language in the government's favor". But Anderson would still have to pay restitution to the District of Columbia government, and the government may sue for the difference in civil court.
<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/06/15/big.mistake.ap/index.html Judge can't fix government's $100 million boo-boo]. ''[[Associated Press]]''. June 15, 2007.</ref>

Although convicted and sentenced in Federal criminal court, Anderson continued to fight his tax case – from prison – in civil Tax Court. According to a web site entitled "JusticeForWalt": "On June 12, 2009 the Tax Court issued an ORDER [sic] accepting the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] decision to conceded [sic] all the tax and penalty issue for 1995, 1996 and 1997. The [http://www.justiceforwalt.com/Records/090612_order.pdf ORDER] indicated that a judgment for those years would be entered in Walter Anderson's favor." <ref>http://www.justiceforwalt.com/ JusticeForWalt website</ref>

The IRS, many years later, conceded in a United States Tax Court case brought by Anderson, that there was no tax due on the funds held in a charitable trust controlled by Anderson, which was part of Mr. Anderson’s coerced guilty plea.

He was released on December 28, 2012.<ref>Inmate #27981-016, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Dep't of Justice, at [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=27981-016&x=101&y=18].</ref>

==Anderson's Current Life==

In 2013 Anderson founded [[Avealto Ltd.]], based in the UK. Avealto was founded to finance, construct and operate a fleet of High Altitude Platforms (“HAPs”). <ref name=Avealto> http://www.avealto.com</ref>

Avealto received a Certificate of Airworthiness from the US [[Federal Aviation Administration]] in August 2018 and conducted its first flight test of a 28-meter (92 foot) vehicle in September, 2018. Additional testing was conducted in 2019 with this half-scale vehicle to refine the final vehicle design.

As of year 2020, Avealto is in the final stages of developing a commercially viable HAP design to provide telecom infrastructure for underserved areas of the world.


==See also==
* ''[[Orphans of Apollo]]'', a space documentary mentioning Walter Anderson.
* [http://www.thespaceshow.com/guest.asp?q=201 Walter Anderson on ''The Space Show''], 5 broadcasts with Walter Anderson as the guest.
* Manber, Jeff, "Selling Peace - Inside the Soviet Conspiracy that Transformed the U.S. Space Program", ©2009


==References==
==References==
Line 76: Line 29:


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://avealto.com/walt-anderson-founder-ceo/ About Walt Anderson] on the Avealto website
* [http://www.isunet.edu International Space University] official website


{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Walter}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Walter}}
[[Category:American communications businesspeople]]
[[Category:American telecommunications industry businesspeople]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in telecommunications]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American businesspeople convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:American businesspeople convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:American people convicted of tax crimes]]
[[Category:American people convicted of tax crimes]]
[[Category:American prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government]]

Latest revision as of 11:23, 29 January 2024

For other people with the same name, see Walter Anderson (disambiguation).

Walter C. Anderson (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for commercial space travel. He began his career in telecommunications and founded several companies including Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984 and Esprit Telecom in 1992, which were acquired by Frontier Communications and Global TeleSystems Group, respectively. He co-founded the International Space University and provided financial support for the Space Frontier Foundation during its creation. Anderson also invested in a number of space ventures including Rotary Rocket, a company that attempted to develop a reusable, single-stage launch vehicle with the aid of helicopter rotors. He founded MirCorp, an unsuccessful venture to privatize the Mir space station, and Orbital Recovery Corporation, a company developing technology to capture and repair telecommunication satellites.

In the mid 2000s, Anderson pled guilty to charges of tax evasion and was sentenced to nine years in prison. After his release in 2012, he founded Avealto a company developing a fleet of high-altitude platforms.

Early life

[edit]

Walter C. Anderson[1] was born Walter Anderson Crump in 1953.[2][3] He grew up in Washington, D.C.[3]

Career

[edit]

Anderson began his career in the telecommunications industry at MCI Communications in 1979.[4] He founded Mid-Atlantic Telecom in 1984.[3] Mid-Atlantic Telecom was a long-distance telephone service carrier. The company was the first to combine telephone and voicemail services.[3] Anderson served as president and chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Telecom until the early 1990s[5][6] when the company was acquired by Rochester Telephone Corporation (now Frontier Communications).[2][7]

In 1988, Anderson co-founded the International Space University as an early investor.[3][8] He provided financial support for the Space Frontier Foundation during its creation in 1991.[3] The following year, he founded Esprit Telecom based in London,[7] taking advantage of early telecom deregulation in the U.K.[9] Anderson served as chairman of the company until November 1998.[5] The following month, Global TeleSystems Group, a US publicly traded company, acquired Esprit for nearly $1 billion.[3][7] Anderson was also a major shareholder of Telco Communications Group before its acquisition by Excel Communications for $1.2 billion.[7]

In the mid to late 1990s, Anderson was an early investor in Erol's Internet, which expanded into one of the largest dial-up ISPs. Erol's was acquired by RCN Corporation in 1998, netting Anderson stock in RCN worth $25 million.[10] The same year, Anderson became chairman of Worldxchange Communications. He served in the position until December 2000 when the company was sold to World Access. He also served as chairman of Covista Communications from 1999 to 2001.[5]

Anderson had been an ardent supporter of the development of commercial space activities. He was an early-stage investor in many private space ventures in the 1990s and early 2000s, and one of the first "astropreneurs".[11] His highest-profile space investment was MirCorp, the late 1990s start-up that briefly privatized Russia's aging Mir space station.[3][12] He reportedly invested as much as $30 million into the venture.[11] From 1996 and 1999, Anderson was also an investor in Rotary Rocket,[3][13] a now-defunct venture to develop a reusable single-stage-to-orbit crewed spacecraft that hoped to combine the rotors of a helicopter with rocketry to achieve orbit.[13][14] In the early 2000s, Anderson also founded and served as CEO of Orbital Recovery Corporation,[2] a company developing technology to capture and repair telecommunication satellites.[15]

In the mid 2000s, he was accused of not reporting income from investments in non-US companies.[1] Anderson was arrested on February 26, 2005, at Dulles International Airport as he was returning from London.[16][17] He was held in the Washington, D.C. jail for more than 2 years,[1] before he pled guilty to some of the charges against him in September 2006.[17][18] He was sentenced to nine years in prison in March 2007.[1] In June 2007, federal district judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that Anderson would not have to pay any restitution to the federal government due to a typographical error by the government in the plea agreement but Anderson would still have to pay restitution to the District of Columbia government.[19] Anderson was released at the end of 2012 after serving the last few months of his term at home in Virginia.[20]

In September 2007, Anderson was named by the New Scientist as one of the "Top 10 Influential Space Thinkers".[11] He was also featured in Orphans of Apollo, a documentary about MirCorp.[21]

In 2013, Anderson founded Avealto Ltd., based in the UK. Avealto was founded to finance, construct and operate a fleet of high-altitude platforms.[8] Since then, the company has gained an airworthiness certification for the FAA for a 28-meter-long test vehicle.[8][9] The final design developed by Anderson and co-founder David Chambers is a 100-meter-long helium airship with a payload of telecommunications equipment. The airship would float in a stationary position guided by GPS tracking.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Entrepreneur Gets 9 Years in Tax Case". The New York Times. March 28, 2007. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Johnston, David Cay (March 2, 2005). "Man of Many Names Now Called No. 1 Tax Cheat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Weil, Elizabeth (July 23, 2000). "American Megamillionaire Gets Russki Space Heap!". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  4. ^ Hilzenrath, David S.; Leonnig, Carol D.; Noguchi, Yuki (March 4, 2005). "Tax Case Defendant Says Money Was to Do Good". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
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