Colorado Man Sentenced for Money Laundering Scheme

ALBUQUERQUE – A Colorado man was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $242,210 after pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court documents, in 2015, James Matison, the former Restoration Projects Director at WildEarth Guardians, manipulated his co-defendant, Jeffrey Ham, the owner of Timberline Environmental LLC, a WildEarth Guardians contractor, into participating in the scheme by claiming his wife suffered a traumatic brain injury and they were facing financial hardship.

As part of the scheme, Matison created fraudulent invoices from Timberline to WildEarth Guardians, which he approved for payment, causing the non-profit to issue checks to Timberline. Matison deposited these checks into Timberline's account, then transferred the funds to his personal account.

The scheme continued until March 2019 and accumulated a total of $242,210 in fraudulent billings to WildEarth Guardians, with Matison pocketing virtually all the proceeds. When WildEarth Guardians began investigating, Matison asked Ham to create new invoices to cover up the crimes.

Ham pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced on October 3, 2024, to serve a term of three years on probation.

U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General made the announcement today.

The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General and the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Peña is prosecuting the case.

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