Feds Accuse Kansas CPA of Embezzling Money From Client to Build New Home

By Eduardo Castillo, The Wichita Eagle (TNS)

A Kansas accountant has been accused of defrauding a business client and using the client’s money to build himself a home, federal prosecutors said.

Quintin Flanagin, 43, of Colby, is a certified public accountant and is part owner of Williams Consulting, a Colby accounting firm.

Flanagin was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, two counts of false statements and six counts of money laundering, a news release from U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas said.

He made his first appearance in court Wednesday.

Diamond M. Farms hired Williams Consulting to do accounting and the business relationship continued for 15 years, according to an indictment.

Flanagin was a signatory for Diamond M. Farms and had access to the company’s bank accounts and payroll, according to a news release.

A signatory is someone who is authorized to manage someone else’s account on their behalf.

Flanagin is accused of creating a fake business called Middle Finger Ranch and linking it to his personal bank account. Between December 2021 and August 2022, he is accused of writing multiple checks totaling $409,710 from Diamond M. Farms to Middle Finger Ranch under the guise of payments for farm operations, the release said.

Court documents show that Flanagin wrote six checks on different occasions.

“The funds were later deposited into his personal account and used for personal expenses, specifically, to pay for the construction on the defendant’s [Flanagin] new home,” according to an indictment.

Flanagin hired a construction company to build a house in 2021. Bank transactions show that he paid the contractor from his Middle Finger Ranch account days after money was deposited into it from Diamond M. Farms, the release said.

The FBI investigated the case.

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Accounting