According to the indictment returned in U.S. District Court on Thursday, Travis has been working as a real estate agent on Maui since 1982 while the charges against him relate to tax filings and actions taken since 2002, when the IRS said it was attempting to audit his tax returns.

Travis did not respond to calls to his Americorp International LLC.

Reports from the state Department of Commercial and Consumer Affairs indicate there have been questions about his business activities over the years.

In a February 2005 meeting, the state Real Estate Commission conducted a lengthy discussion of tax claims against Travis before approving a license for Americorp International LLC to operate as a real estate business.

According to minutes of the meeting, Travis' attorney said the Internal Revenue Service filed a claim against Travis but Travis won an arbitration finding.

The indictment notes that Travis claims to have won awards from the Western Arbitration Council against the IRS and an IRS auditor. But the indictment says that the arbitration council subsequently vacated the findings.

The arbitration actions were part of the findings in support of count one of the indictment, a charge of obstructing and impeding the administration of tax laws. The charge is a federal felony carrying a possible three years in prison.

The indictment alleges that Travis filed falsified documents with the IRS and took other "frivolous actions" in an effort to impede an audit of his tax returns from 1996 through 2000. While the audit was being conducted, the indictment charges that Travis filed amended returns claiming improper deductions and falsely claiming to owe no income taxes.

In tax returns filed in 2005 and 2006, the indictment alleges that Travis also claimed charitable deductions to foundations established by a known tax protester, Royal Lamarr Hardy.

Over the same two years, Travis also filed three separate complaints seeking damages against the IRS that were repeatedly dismissed by federal district court judges.

Six counts of filing false tax returns relate to alleged improper deductions claimed in his tax returns for 1996 through 2004. The six counts all are felonies, carrying a possible three years in prison and fines up to $350,000.

State business records show that Travis was doing business as Americorp International Ltd. from 1999 through 2004 at the Kihei Plaza.

That company was dissolved in 2004, but Americorp International LLC, a limited liability company, was created in 2005, and its license approved at the Feb. 25, 2005, meeting of the Real Estate Commission. The new company is based at 214 Heleuma Place in Kihei.

Travis is listed as an active member of the Realtors Association of Maui.