Timothy T. Duax U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa
A financial planner from Marion, Iowa, has been sentenced to three months in federal prison for failing to file income tax returns and pay taxes on nearly $1.5 million in earnings over several years.
Matthew Westberry, 43, pleaded guilty on July 22, 2025, to two counts of failure to file a tax return. According to his plea agreement, Westberry did not file any tax returns between 2006 and 2012. After being contacted by tax authorities in 2013, he filed delinquent returns for those years as well as a return for 2013 but did not pay the income taxes owed for the period from 2008 through 2013.
After submitting his 2013 return, Westberry again stopped filing tax returns and failed to submit any returns from 2014 through 2021. During this time, he earned almost $1.5 million as a financial planner and paid no federal income taxes on that amount. Authorities stated that he should have paid more than $250,000 in federal income taxes during those years.
Due to his unpaid taxes from previous years, the IRS placed two liens on property Westberry had agreed to purchase. He ultimately did not buy the property but also did not remove the liens. When the property owner attempted to sell it later, they discovered the IRS liens were still attached under Westberry’s name. To clear them, Westberry filed false lien releases with the Linn County Recorder’s Office that appeared to be issued by the IRS. This led to a state court conviction for forgery related to filing these false documents.
United States Magistrate Judge Mark Roberts sentenced Westberry in Cedar Rapids. In addition to three months’ imprisonment, Westberry will serve an additional three months of home confinement after release and one year of supervised release following his prison term. He was ordered to pay $264,502 in restitution to the IRS; prior to sentencing he had already paid about $36,000 toward this amount. There is no parole available in the federal system.
Westberry remains free on bond until he is required to report for his prison sentence at a date yet undetermined.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by both the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
