Former South St. Paul boys basketball coach disbarred from practicing law [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.]

Feb. 24—Former South St. Paul boys basketball coach Matthew McCollister has been disbarred by the Minnesota Supreme Court for professional misconduct unrelated to his federal insurance fraud charge.

The court's decision this month cited McCollister's admission to intentionally misappropriating client funds and failing to maintain required trust account books and records in 2019 and 2020 while he ran his own personal injury law practice. He opened the law firm in 2015.

McCollister and the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, the state's governing body for attorneys, entered into a stipulation Dec. 6 where he admitted to intentionally misappropriating from at least three clients more than $16,300 in client funds from his trust account between July 2020 and December 2020.

In the stipulation, McCollister, 40, of Mendota Heights, agreed to waive his procedural rights and accepts the recommended discipline of no longer being able to practice law in the state. The state Supreme Court independently reviewed the file and approved the disposition in a Feb. 9 order.

Ryan Pacyga, McCollister's attorney, said Wednesday that his client had stopped practicing law some time ago. His admission to the allegations "is his continuing effort to try and make amends to the community," Pacyga said.

McCollister was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in 2009. During that time, he had been suspended by the state Supreme Court three times for a variety of misconduct, including in 2019 for agreeing to a settlement without a client's knowledge or consent and forging the client's name on the settlement agreement. That misconduct led to a two-year suspension.

McCollister's recent admission to misconduct came two days before federal prosecutors charged him for his role in a scheme to rip off car insurance companies with bogus medical claims in 2016 and 2017.

He appeared in federal court in St. Paul on Jan. 19 and pleaded guilty to one count of felony conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Under a plea agreement, McCollister faces a likely prison sentence of between 10 and 16 months, but the decision will be up to U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright.

McCollister remains free on his own recognizance pending his sentencing, which has been scheduled for May 25.

A week before the court hearing, McCollister resigned from his job as head coach of South St. Paul High School's boys basketball team, which had an 11-0 record. McCollister, who'd been coach since November 2019, had been credited with helping to turn around a once-struggling team, which fell a game short of the state tournament last year.

Assistant coach Darren Edwards took over as head coach and the team has kept up its winning ways. Heading into a Wednesday night game against North High, the Packers were 22-0 and among the top-ranked teams in Class 3A.

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