Missoula Accountant Faces 20 Years in Prison and $250,000 Fine

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - A Missoula accountant, 54-year-old William Clawson, appeared last week in Missoula Federal Court and admitted using over $1 million in cash payments intended to pay income taxes for his clients for his own personal use.

I spoke with Montana’s U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich about the case that took several years to come to justice.

Missoula Accountant Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud Charges

“This individual is an accountant in Missoula, and he had a number of marijuana dispensary clients who paid in cash,” began Laslovich. “When he would do their taxes, he would say to them, ‘Just give me the cash and I'll pay your taxes’. Unfortunately, when he would receive the cash, he would skim a substantial portion of it and pay a little bit in taxes for many of the clients, to the tune of over $1.1 million.”

Laslovich said the IRS notified him about the case and the discrepancies between what he paid to the IRS and what was owed to his clients.

“We've found out about it through the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) when they started looking into it, contact one of the businesses with curiosity asking why the taxes haven't been paid in full.  ‘Go talk to the accountant’, and they did and the accountant (Clawson) said that the business was struggling. And course, that was not true. He was skimming.”

U.S. Attorney Laslovich Said Clawson's Victims Cooperated Fully

Laslovich said Clawson’s victims cooperated fully with the investigation.

“We were able to follow the money as we do, even though it was in cash because the businesses because the victims cooperated, and this led to him pleading guilty in federal court to federal crimes for which he'll face up to 20 years in prison and pay a $250,000 fine. Importantly, as part of the agreement with him, he's agreed to pay back the over $1.1 million that he owes to the businesses.”

Laslovich said these ‘white collar’ crime cases can take years to bring to justice.

Laslovich Said These Cases Can Take Years but are Eventually Caught

“In white-collar crime cases, very rarely do people get away with it,” he said. “As I say to people, they may get away with it for some time, and in this situation, he did. This was some years ago, but eventually, it catches up to people. I don't care if it's an embezzlement case it will come crashing down, and we will get involved, certainly, if there's a federal interest or a federal law that is violated, and pursue them aggressively, and hopefully they end up behind bars.”

Laslovich said Clawson will be sentenced this spring in Missoula Federal Court.