Andrew M. Luger, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
A woman from Tower, Minnesota, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison following her guilty plea for embezzling funds from her clients and filing false tax returns. Jeana Lautigar, also known as Jeana Lautigar-McGowan, 58, operated an accounting and payroll service based in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Her actions have resulted in a restitution order of nearly $430,000 to over two dozen former clients and the IRS.
Court documents reveal that between 2016 and 2020, Lautigar-McGowan exploited her access to client bank accounts by transferring funds into an account she controlled. She used these funds for personal expenses or to cover previous embezzlements. In total, she misappropriated $344,813 over five years.
On February 6, 2020, in an attempt to conceal her activities, Lautigar-McGowan transferred money between client accounts using funds derived from her scheme. Additionally, she submitted false income tax returns by omitting the embezzled income, causing a tax loss of $84,746 to the U.S.
She pleaded guilty on September 27, 2024, to charges of engaging in a monetary transaction with criminally derived property and filing a false income tax return. Judge Donovan W. Frank handed down her sentence last week.
"This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation," stated Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.
The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Lewis and Esther Soria.
