Joseph Yablonsky, who headed the Las Vegas FBI office from 1980 to 1983, offered Conforte millions of dollars in tax breaks for his testimony against Claiborne. Gerald Swanson, who served alongside Yablonsky as director of the Internal Revenue Service in Nevada, could not verify the allegations and therefore refused to support a grand jury probe based on Conforte's testimony. Since Yablonsky needed Swanson's help with tax breaks for Conforte, he targeted him in a phony sting to see if he would accept bribes to reduce Conforte's tax bill. Swanson did not take the bait and the sting was aborted with no charges, but Swanson was nevertheless placed on administrative leave in 1982 and later transferred to Dallas, where he became an assistant regional commissioner.