KANSAS CITY
Pro Football Hall of Fame member, Ron Mix, plead guilty today in federal court in Kansas City in connection with a tax-fraud case involving worker’s compensation claims he filed for former athletes, according to officials.
Mix, 78, a California lawyer in San Diego, illegally paid a non-lawyer for referrals on clients, according to federal prosecutors.
Instead of paying the person directly, Mix donated about $155,000 over three years to a charity operated by that person, prosecutors said. Then Mix claimed those payments on his tax returns as charitable deductions.
He pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of making false statements in a tax return.
U.S. District Court Judge Greg Kays in Missouri has not yet scheduled Mix’s sentencing. Mix is facing up to three years in prison, officials said.
Mix was an All-America tackle at the University of Southern California and spent most of his 12-year professional career as an offensive lineman with the San Diego Chargers. He played two seasons with the Oakland Raiders after the AFL and NFL merger.
HE was named to the AFL’s all-time team and voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
While still playing, Mix passed the California Bar and was dubbed the “Intellectual Assassin,” according to published reports.
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