Tri-City million-dollar con man pleads innocent to fraud

A Tri-City man who admitted swindling millions of dollars from investors pleaded innocent Thursday to three new fraud charges.

Michael Peter Spitzauer was indicted Tuesday on suspicion of using false information to apply for a U.S. passport shortly after being released from prison last year.

Three years ago, he admitted to defrauding investors and the IRS of $13 million in connection with his Green Power biofuels company that tried to start a plant at the Port of Pasco.

Spitzauer told Magistrate Judge John Rodgers on Thursday in federal court in Richland that he legally changed his name to Michael Peter Scott Spitzauer McCune.

He is charged with aggravated identity theft for allegedly using someone else’s identification to apply for a passport.

The other two charges are for allegedly lying to apply for and use a passport.

A native of Austria, Spitzauer is accused of claiming to be a U.S. citizen and claiming to have been born in El Paso, Texas.

He told the judge he could not afford a lawyer, and Rodgers appointed Adam Pechtel of Kennewick to represent him at taxpayers’ expense.

Spitzauer was back in federal custody Thursday and came into the courtroom escorted by two U.S. marshals.

The judge did not take arguments on whether Spitzauer can be released on bail.

Because some documents were not yet available, including a bail report from a probation officer, another detention hearing will need to be held as soon as possible, Rodgers said.

Prosecutors filed a motion that claims he is a serious flight risk.

Spitzauer was the founder of a Pasco company, Green Power, which he told investors would convert municipal waste to biofuels.

He was charged in 2013 with wire and bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, tax evasion, and lying on his federal tax return. But in 2015 Spitzauer reached a plea agreement that reduced counts to failing to file a tax return and filing a false return.

As part of the deal, he acknowledged defrauding investors and using the money to pay back previous investors on unauthorized business expenses and for personal expenses, such as a $1 million Kennewick mansion, furniture, donations and professional sports tickets.

He was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $13 million to investors and the IRS.

He was released from prison in June, and on Aug. 2, while still on probation, applied for the passport.

Federal prosecutors have claimed he lied to get into the U.S. after he was released from an Austrian prison after serving a sentence for fraud and forgery.

At the time, prosecutors discussed having Spitzauer deported. Because a new case is pending, the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to say if that is being considered.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Tri-City million-dollar con man pleads innocent to fraud."