An eccentric American millionaire who set up a Bermuda-based company to turn the Russian space station Mir into a hotel has been arrested and charged with evading more than $200 million in federal and local US taxes.

Walter Anderson, who made millions in the telecom boom of the 1980s and 1990s, was arrested at Washington Dulles Airport on Monday and charged with 12 counts of tax evasion.

The case is the largest ever criminal tax evasion case against an individual.

Anderson incorporated MirCorp Ltd. in December 1999, a Bermuda company that was formed to invest $21 million into the ailing Russian space station Mir.

Though the company planned to lease the space station to drug companies and other firms interested in micro-gravity research, the only profitable venture was space tourism.

The world?s first space tourist, Dennis Tito, paid $20 million for a visit to Mir, and it has also been reported that reality TV producer Mark Burnett, responsible for shows including ?Survivor? and ?The Apprentice?, had signed a contract with MirCorp for a show, ?Destination: Mir?, with contestants training in Russia and the winner being blasted to the space station.

But MirCorp has since been struck off the Bermuda Registrar of Companies and the Mir space station was intentionally crashed into the Pacific Ocean west of New Zealand in March 2001 after 15 years orbiting the Earth.

A grand jury indictment accuses Anderson of conducting business through offshore corporations in Panama and the British Virgin Islands to make it appear he was not personally earning income from those ventures which earned nearly a half billion dollars over a five year period. If convicted Anderson could face up to 80 years in prison.

The case is part of a recent push by federal prosecutors to crack down on use of offshore accounts to evade US taxes.

Anderson pleaded not guilty to the tax evasion charges on Monday and was ordered held without bail until a hearing tomorrow.