Idaho investment adviser accused of bilking Montanans

Prosecutors from the Montana State Auditor’s Office have filed several felony fraud charges against an Idaho man who they say bilked several Northwest Montanans out of more than $1 million over the last four years.

Kip Hartman, who operates Kootenai Valley Tax, a tax service business in Troy, was charged with exploiting an older person, selling insurance without a license, working as an investment adviser without a license and securities fraud.

Hartman, 34, also has an office in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. According to a previous Western News story, Hartman has been in the tax and financial services business for 13 years.

In May, a 69-year-old Troy woman told investigators that Hartman told her to sell her father’s annuity, which would have earned her an inheritance of more than $2 million, and to buy an annuity from Hartman.

Prosecutors said the woman had trusted Hartman because he had helped her with her financial problems. They alleged Hartman gave the woman no access to her money, but allowed her to borrow $2,500 per month. The payments added up to $62,500, but she ended up paying Hartman more than $734,000. She also had to pay penalties and commissions from the transfer of her father’s annuity.

The woman wasn’t the only victim of Hartman’s alleged schemes, according to law officials.

Five others said they sold their investment portfolios and used the money to buy annuities with Hartman, at his urging. He made about $294,400, according to prosecutors.

One person said she believed Hartman was the only person she could trust with her money.

Officials said Hartman had his wife, who is licensed in Montana, sign the paperwork.

Brett Olin and Janell Williams, special assistant attorneys general for the state, will prosecute the case.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.