Page "Spiro Agnew" Paragraph 28

On October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew became the second Vice President to resign the office.

Unlike John C. Calhoun, who resigned to take a seat in the Senate, Agnew resigned and then pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme wherein he was accused of accepting more than $ 100, 000 in bribes during his tenure as governor of Maryland.

Agnew was fined $ 10, 000 and put on three years ' probation.

The $ 10, 000 fine covered only the taxes and interest due on what was " unreported income " from 1967.

The plea bargain was later mocked by former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs as " the greatest deal since the Lord spared Isaac on the mountaintop ".

Students of Professor John F. Banzhaf III from the George Washington University Law School, collectively known as Banzhaf's Bandits, found four residents of the state of Maryland willing to put their names on a case and sought to have Agnew repay the state $ 268, 482 — the amount it was said he had taken in bribes.

After two appeals by Agnew, he finally resigned himself to the matter and a check for $ 268, 482 was turned over to Maryland State Treasurer William S. James in early 1983.