San Diego man accused of trying to hire hitman in tax case

A 51-year-old San Diego man was arrested Friday by the FBI on suspicion of trying to hire a hitman for $100,000 to kill two witnesses against him in his upcoming tax fraud case.

Steven Martinez was arrested without incident on a witness-tampering charge, the FBI said.

Martinez was indicted in 2010 on charges of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service and state Franchise Tax Board of more than $11 million by filing phony tax returns. A former revenue agent for the IRS, Martinez had a tax preparation business in San Diego at the time of his indictment.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego