MISSOULA — A Missoula accountant who defrauded clients by using their cash payments intended for income taxes for his own personal expenses has been sentenced to 2 years in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme announced.
William Arthur Clawson, 54, was also ordered to pay full restitution of $1,309,591 to the victims as well as a $20,000 criminal fine.
Clawson pleaded guilty in February 2025 to wire fraud and to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the administration of the internal revenue laws.
Prosecutors alleged that from about 2016 to 2021, Clawson used his businesses, Quantum Business Solutions and Endeavor Financial Insights, to defraud clients. Clawson offered accounting and tax preparation services to clients in Montana, Washington and Oklahoma, who were engaged in the cash-intensive medical marijuana industry.
Clawson promised to assess the taxes owed by his clients and receive cash payments from them that he would use to pay his fees and the taxes they owed. Instead, Clawson paid only a small portion of the taxes his clients owed and used the remainder of the money on his personal expenses and unrelated debts. Through Clawson’s actions, his clients unknowingly fell behind in paying the taxes they owed.
The government further alleged that between 2019 and 2020, one of Clawson’s clients came under IRS scrutiny because of unpaid taxes. An IRS revenue officer contacted the company as part of efforts to collect taxes owed. The company called Clawson, which was serving as its accountant.
Clawson instructed the company not to communicate with the IRS officer and said he would take care of the reported issue. Clawson falsely told the IRS officer that the company had cash flow issues that were making it difficult for the company to pay its taxes. Clawson acted corruptly by making other false statements to the IRS officer on the company’s behalf that Clawson knew would impede the government’s tax collection efforts, a news release states. Clawson did this to conceal his misappropriation of the funds the company gave him to pay its taxes.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided over the sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Hargrove prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.
