money. The following year, however, the purchaser filed a countersuit against him, claiming that he had grossly and illegally inflated the value of the company before the purchase. On September 1, 2005, Axelrod was ordered to pay Central Garden & Pet Company $16.4 million (net, after deducting $3.7 million the company was ordered to pay Axelrod due to earnings targets). Musical instruments collection Axelrod, a violinist himself, assembled a large collection of old and rare stringed instruments, including the Hellier Stradivarius. In 1975 he bought his first Stradivarius violin. In 1998 he donated four Stradivari instruments — two violins, a viola and a cello — to the Smithsonian Institution. Known as the Axelrod quartet, their value was estimated at $50 million. In February 2003 he sold about 30 other instruments to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) for $18 million. This collection was estimated to be worth $49 million. (Axelrod was a long-time supporter of the NJSO.) Further legal difficulties Questions surfaced about the value of the instruments he had donated to the Smithsonian and the NJSO. Although the instruments were all old and valuable, several unnamed experts determined them not to be the instruments he represented them as, and not to be as valuable as he claimed. He was said to have invented histories for the instruments to explain away doubts or to increase their worth. In an unrelated case, Axelrod was indicted in federal court in New Jersey on April 13, 2004, accused of funneling millions of dollars into Swiss bank accounts over 20 years without paying taxes. The following April 21, he failed to appear for his arraignment, having fled to Cuba. He was arrested in Berlin on June 15, 2004 as he got off a plane from Switzerland, and then extradited to the United States. On March 21, 2005 he was sentenced in U.S. court to 18 months in prison for tax fraud. Legacy For his philanthropy, the Smithsonian Institution named Axelrod their 1999 Donor of the Year. Axelrodia, a genus of characin from South America, is named for him. A number of fish species are also named for him, including The cardinal tetra Paracheirodon axelrodi (L. P. Schultz, 1956), The Trinidad tetra Hyphessobrycon axelrodi (Travassos, 1959), The black neon tetra Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi Géry, 1961, The pink corydoras catfish Corydoras axelrodi Rössel, 1962, The African fish Neolebias axelrodi Poll & J. P. Gosse, 1963, The South