Tackeguiltyof fraud

A federal jury in Missoula has convicted Kalispell businessman David Tacke on a dozen fraud and money-laundering charges.

After a nine-day trial and just six hours of deliberation Thursday afternoon, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all 12 counts against Tacke in the court of U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy.

The charges were tied to Tacke's management of a variety of corporations controlled by

holding company VenueTech System.

He was convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud for interstate investment communications. Those convictions made possible the convictions on 10 counts of money laundering stemming from transactions between bank accounts.

U.S. Attorney Kris McLean laid out a case alleging illegal financial operations to back a business that intended to manufacture binoculars for fans to rent at sports stadiums.

McLean contended that Tacke fraudulently obtained investments for the business from across the country. He charged that Tacke did not register securities with the state auditor's office as required and that he was not registered to sell securities.

Tacke also failed to provide investors with necessary disclosures, detailed financial statements and reports about how money was spent, along with information about tax liens or government orders to stop selling securities.

Tacke also did not disclose the multiple lawsuits that have been filed against him, including three in California, seven in Seattle and King County, Wash., five in Lake County, three in Flathead County, and one each in Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Tacke's business also was faced with nine state and federal tax liens and nine liens filed by other parties.

"This is the type of information an investor should be told about before they fork over their hard-earned money," McLean argued in court last week.

Tacke sometimes had investors write one check to VenueTech and another to a separate entity called Quelle, which was not incorporated in Montana and was, according to McLean, Tacke's personal account.

Using money from the Quelle account, Tacke bought speculative stocks, clothing, a car and a house, McLean charged. About $1 million passed through the account.

During autumn 2000, an employee and investor in the company, along with others, made a report to the state auditor's office that led to an investigation that included the auditor's office, the FBI, the IRS and local law-enforcement officers.

McLean said investors put about $3.6 million into the company, and by Dec. 31, 2001, "it was all gone."

Tacke's attorney, Greg Jackson, countered that his client was working on promising products and that he did not knowingly defraud anyone.

Judge Molloy ruled during the trial that the jury could not hear about previous business ventures that led the Montana auditor's office to stop Tacke from selling securities during 1985, and that during 1995, the Alberta Securities Exchange Commission ordered him to stop securities trading.

Tacke, most recently a resident of Boise, Idaho, faces possible penalties of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the mail-fraud charge. For wire fraud, he faces the same potential penalties.

For the money-laundering charges, he faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.