Shawnee attorney pleads to tax evasion
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A Shawnee attorney who pleaded guilty to evading taxes on $100,000 in earnings will cooperate with authorities investigating the collapse of Commercial Financial Services.

The plea in Oklahoma City federal court on Friday means James D. Sill Jr., 58, could face up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sill was president of Dimat Inc., a company established by Jay L. Jones, the former executive vice president of the company.

According to the plea agreement, Sill has agreed to cooperate with the government and could testify against Jones and company founder Bill Bartmann.

A federal grand jury in December indicted Bartmann on 58 counts of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. The case against him is pending in Tulsa federal court.

Jones pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in connection with the company's quick rise to billion-dollar status and its sudden collapse.

He awaits sentencing.

CFS, founded in the early 1990s, made money by collecting bad debts from banks and credit card companies.

In 1995, the Tulsa-based company issued bonds against the company's future collections.

Things went downhill for CFS when an anonymous letter delivered to bond-rating officials suggested the company had inflated its collection rates.

The company instituted massive layoffs of its 4,000 employees and eventually folded in 1999.

The government said Dimat was a "sham company" created to buy debt from CFS so the company could report a higher collection rate.

Jones has admitted that money from new bond sales was diverted to Dimat to fund the purchases of company debt, helping CFS pay principal and interest to previous bondholders, prosecutors said.

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