Ex-Knights owner charged with tax evasion

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KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 21 (UPI) -- James Clark, the former Kansas City Knights basketball team owner, has been charged with federal tax evasion and bank fraud.

Prosecutors in Kansas City said Clark, of Leawood, Mo., owes nearly $503,000 in unpaid payroll taxes and penalties from 2002-2004, The Kansas City (Mo.) Star reported.

Clark is accused of not sending to the Internal Revenue Service taxes he allegedly withheld from employees of SWISH Holding Corp., a healthcare consulting firm with headquarters in Kansas City. Clark was an owner of SWISH.

Prosecutors said Clark also attempted to get a line of credit with UMB Bank in May 2004 without telling the bank he had sold SWISH's assets to an Indiana business the month before.

Kevin E. Dellett, an attorney representing Clark, said in a statement: "Mr. Clark has been working with the IRS for several years to address his former company's outstanding tax liabilities. As a member of the business community, he understands and he takes very seriously his obligation to do so."

Dellett said the charges had nothing to do with operations of the Knights, which played in the first half of the last decade and won an American Basketball Association championship in 2002.