Former Wyoming Catholic College CFO Charged With Fraud

A plea hearing has been set for March 29 in Casper before U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl.

Since it first surfaced as part of a $15-million civil lawsuit against McCown by the New York financial firm Ria R Squared, the McCown case has rocked the Lander business community and embarrassed the tiny Catholic college that once prided itself in not accepting federal or state government funds.

Most of the $14.7 million he received in a loan from Ria R Squared has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hours after McCown received the Ria R Squared money he redistributed the bulk of it as an anonymous $10 million donation to the WCC and gave $375,000 each to his friend, WCC vice president Jonathan Tonkowich and to a brother, Phillip McCown, according to court filings.

In December, Ria R Squared also sued Wyoming Catholic College, Tonkowich and Philip McCown to recover money it claims was not collected by the FBI. Ria R Squared claims that WCC still holds $239,154; Tonkowich, $73,870 and Phillip McCown $23,699, in fraudulently obtained funds.

Prosecutors say the criminal fraud began in June 2020, when McCown began applying for a series of loans and grants from the Wyoming Business Council, the state agency charged with distributing the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds to affected state businesses. Between June 2020 and November 2020, he received $841,863 from the Wyoming Business Council.

In September 2020, McCown, who had begun falsely telling people that he was getting fabulously rich by selling hand sanitizers to airports and NFL stadiums, paid $700,000 to purchase the large Lander country home of WCC board chairman David Kellogg and his wife Carol Kellogg.

The COVID scheme began to unravel in February 2021 when a Wyoming Business Council audit determined that McCown had failed to provide proof of the revenue he claimed, or the number of employees he listed for his company, McCown Industries. The business council demanded that he pay back all $841,863 he had received.