A Riverside County man was sentenced Thursday to more than a year in prison for tax fraud after selling memorabilia signed by comic book legend and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, according to authorities.
Mac Martin Anderson, a 59-year-old Corona resident, was sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison after allegedly getting more than $1.2 million in proceeds that he never reported to the IRS, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Anderson was also ordered to pay $482,833 in restitution.
Anderson pleaded guilty in March to two counts of willfully subscribing to a false tax return, according to authorities. Between 2015 and 2028, Anderson had a personal relationship with Lee and sold Marvel items that had Lee’s autograph to dealers, brokers and fans.
Anderson got an income of about $1.236 million from selling the memorabilia between 2015 and 2018 and admitted that the tax that was due was about $482,833, according to the release.
Lee helped spearhead Marvel Comics’ transformation in the 1960s into a powerhouse brand. He helped introduce Spider-Man to Marvel in August 1962. He was later credited as associate producer on movies starring Marvel characters including Iron Man, X-Men and Captain America, in addition to Spider-Man.
