The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on April 3, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, JESSE SHADERIC WALL, Jr., a 66-year-old resident of Kalispell, pled guilty to wire fraud. Sentencing has been set for July 12, 2013. He is currently released on special conditions.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Racicot, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
At the time of the crimes referenced in the Indictment, WALL was a CPA in the Kalispell area. Beginning in 2008, WALL made material misrepresentations to RBM Lumber Company to induce the company to invest $350,000 with him. One RBM executive explained to law enforcement that WALL was the company's accountant and that he offered to invest some of RBM's money in mediums that would produce a higher rate of return than RBM could get from a bank. RBM agreed and began providing WALL with various sums of money at various times. According to the RBM representative, WALL created a Nevada corporation called Milestone Innovations, Inc., and the money that RBM provided WALL was invested on behalf of that Nevada entity.
WALL used the money he obtained from RBM on his struggling business, as opposed to depositing it into any interest-bearing investments. RBM's expectation was that the money would be readily available should the company need it and WALL was not given authority to tie the funds up for any extended period of time. But in February 2011, when RBM asked WALL to return the money, he was unable to do so. He told RBM that the money was invested in real estate, which was not true. In reality, WALL had spent the RBM money but was hoping to sell his house in the coming months and planned to use the proceeds from that sale to pay RBM. WALL did repay $190,000 to RBM in June 2011.
WALL was interviewed by a Secret Service agent on Dec. 29, 2011. During the interview, WALL expressed a desire to pay RBM back, but also said he "perhaps did say something misleading to them," to induce them to part with their money.
Count I of the Indictment involved a check that WALL wrote on July 1, 2009, from a Wells Fargo Bank account in the name of Milestone Innovations, Inc., for $12,500. The check was written to "Jesse S. WALL, CPA PC," and deposited into WALL's business account at West One Bank. That deposit caused a wire communication in interstate commerce between Wells Fargo Bank in Montana and a federal reserve bank outside Montana.
WALL faces possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
