Namesake donors of WWU building had $36M tax evasion case

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Two donors whose names will grace a new building at Western Washington University thanks to a $10 million gift were involved in a significant federal tax evasion case 15 years ago.

Fred Kaiser and Grace Borsari's entwined corporations pleaded guilty in 2004 and were required to pay $36 million after federal prosecutors accused them of “a single-minded desire to avoid the payment of almost all taxes.” The Western Front, the student newspaper at the university, reported first about their background in a story Wednesday.

Kaiser and Borsari are business partners who founded Alpha Technologies, which supplies backup power equipment for telecommunications and broadband customers. Their $10 million pledge, the largest in the school's history, was announced in December. It is going toward $20 million campaign for a new building to house programs in electrical engineering, computer science and energy science.

In a statement, university vice president Stephanie Bowers said Western is grateful for the gift. Kaiser and Borsari had previously given $2 million to Western, beginning in 1997. That money included scholarships in athletics, engineering and computer science, with a particular focus on women and students from diverse backgrounds, she said.

“The Foundation and trustees both were aware of the old tax case and felt it was many years in the past and that Kaiser and Borsari’s outstanding support and service to Western deserved special recognition with the naming of the building after them,” Bowers wrote.

In the 2004 case, prosecutors said companies owed by Kaiser and Borsari had moved money in ways designed to evade taxes, such as by moving it to the Cayman Islands and Cyprus.

The newspaper said Kaiser and Borsari did not respond to requests for comment.