The government's contention that he used the alias Robert Zzylch? A 1980s prank, Anderson said, to avoid paying the phone company a fee for an unlisted number.
The passport he held from British Guyana, supposedly illustrating his inclination to flee? An obvious fabrication useless for crossing borders, he said. The country changed its name to Guyana decades ago, and, as Anderson noted, such "camouflage passports" are advertised on the Web for defense against hijackers who target Americans.
The how-to book he possessed on disappearing without a trace, titled "Poof"? Anderson said he is fascinated by forensic science and crime and wondered what trouble he would be in if the government was investigating him as a suspected serial killer, considering his collection of crime stories.
Despite the arrest, he said, he has no motivation to disappear. "After all I've achieved in my life, I'm not going to be satisfied to weave baskets in some backwater country because I can hide from the government," he said.
But Anderson would not address some topics, including his alleged use of the name Mark Roth to incorporate a Panamanian holding company.
He said he registered his Smaller World Foundation and holding companies in offshore havens for legitimate tax savings and privacy, partly to avoid being inundated with solicitations for contributions. He said he made a good-faith effort to file tax returns on time and accurately, and added, "I am not a tax resister."
After investigating him for five years, during which he said heavily armed, flak-jacketed agents raided his home and carted off his records, the government "would have to indict -- if only to intimidate me into a plea bargain," he said.
He said he was nonetheless surprised to be arrested at Dulles International Airport on Saturday as he stepped off a plane from London.
"It's the worst moment in my life," he said. "After 51 years of trying to do the right thing, to be inside a prison is not a happy thing."
Anderson grew up in Silver Spring. His parents were divorced, and at the age of 12, according to court papers, he decided to use his mother's maiden name, Anderson, rather than his father's last name, Crump. Anderson moved to Fairfax with his mother and stepfather and graduated from W.T. Woodson High School in 1971.
