Marine veteran sentenced to 6 years in prison for fraud scheme

CRIME OF THE DAY

FILE - Matthew A. Marshall, left, and his attorney, Justin Gelfand, exit the Russell Smith Federal Courthouse in Missoula, Mont., on Nov. 10, 2021, after a change-of-plea hearing during which Marshall admitted to criminal charges of wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. (Tristan Scott/Flathead Beacon via AP)

KALISPELL, Montana — In order to convince the wealthy Whitefish, Montana, philanthropist Michael Goguen to fund bogus covert military operations across the globe, Matthew A. Marshall spun one elaborate deception after another while portraying himself as a high-ranking intelligence official on a hero’s crusade to quash terrorism, even going so far as to get a tattoo of the U.S. Marine Corps “Force Recon” insignia and send his unsuspecting victim a string of prayer beads he claimed to have removed from the body of a dead terrorist, a flourish engineered “to add color to his claimed CIA affiliation,” according to federal prosecutors.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT (Join to see) PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones SPC Nancy Greene PO1 Tony Holland SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT James Murphy Sgt (Join to see) LTC David Brown 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD