How a Pentagon contractor built a global empire – and a massive tax evasion scheme

A case that the Justice Department has described as one of the largest tax evasion prosecutions in U.S. history culminated on Wednesday with businessman Douglas Edelman pleading guilty in a Washington courtroom to conspiracy and making false statements to U.S. authorities, along with several other criminal charges.

For nearly two decades, the California-born businessman sat atop a near-invisible corporate empire that received more than $7 billion in defense contracts to supply fuel and services to the U.S. military. Edelman used his newfound wealth to fund investments across the globe — from Hollywood movies to an Iraqi newspaper to an MTV franchise in eastern Europe. He also maintained a veil of secrecy over his personal stake in two defense contracting firms and in his subsequent investments, saying at one point in a recorded conversation that he spent “all of my time trying to make sure my name isn’t [on] anything,” according to court documents.