Tower woman sentenced for stealing $340K from small businesses

Prosecutors said the accountant victimized at least 25 clients, with one losing more than $100,000.

By Tom Olsen, Duluth News Tribune – February 24, 2025

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A Tower woman has been sentenced to prison for embezzling nearly $350,000 from small businesses that hired her to provide accounting and payroll services.

Jeana Lautigar-McGowan, 58, received the 28-month term from Senior U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank last week after pleading guilty to money laundering and tax charges.

“Lautigar-McGowan repeatedly prioritized her own financial ends at the expense of her trusting clients,” prosecutor Robert Lewis told the court. “These were not large, wealthy corporations. They were small, mom-and-pop businesses whose fiscal survival is never fully assured from year to year.

“And her actions were not a one-time mistake,” Lewis said. “Far from it. She spent years defrauding others out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, including more than two dozen of her clients and all honest fellow citizen taxpayers — all while a licensed financial professional.”

Lautigar-McGowan operated the Twin Cities-based Edina Business Solutions, Inc. and Jeana Lautigar CPA, Inc. research defunding.jpg

Court documents say the thefts spanned five years and impacted at least 25 clients, with Lautigar-McGowan using her access to their bank accounts to conduct transfers in amounts appearing consistent with their payroll.

She used funds “for her own purposes and to support her lifestyle,” prosecutors told the court, with one client losing more than $100,000. In some cases, filings said, she would also use one client’s money to reimburse what she took from another client.

“In the end, her crimes were clearly motivated by selfishness and greed,” Lewis wrote, “committed because she merely wanted to elevate herself to greater riches than she already had.”

Authorities said the embezzlement totaled $344,813 between 2016-20, with Lautigar-McGowan also failing to pay $84,746 in federal taxes on the stolen income.