Defense attorney calls film tax credit case complicated

DES MOINES – A Polk County judge Friday set a May 3 trial date for a Minnesota filmmaker who pleaded not guilty to a theft charge brought by prosecutors who alleged he fraudulently obtained state film tax credits.

However, Des Moines attorney William Kutmus -- who represented Matthias Alexander Saunders, 37, of Minneapolis, at Friday's preliminary hearing – said he will seek a continuance due to the complex nature of the case and questions whether the state actually lost any money.

“This case is extraordinarily complex,” Kutmus said in waiving speedy trial provisions for Saunders -- one of two filmmakers recently charged in relation to the state's film tax credit program. The class C felony charge of first-degree theft brought against Saunders carries a possible 10-year prison term.

Prosecutors allege Saunders and Wendy Weiner Runge, 44, of St. Louis Park, Minn., unlawfully inflated values on applications for tax credits for the movie “The Scientist.” The two filmmakers and three movie-related companies are facing theft charges for allegedly obtaining $1.85 million in tax credits for their movie by fraudulent means.

In an interview after Friday's hearing, Kutmus said the financial dealings are complicated because the state incentive program allowed tax credits to be bundled and brokered, and “everything was approved by the state of Iowa.”

“This jury is going to have to be educated on what a qualified tax credit means and whether or not the state of Iowa lost one penny. Those are mammoth things in this case,” he added. “There is an issue whether the state of Iowa lost a dime.”

Kutmus declined to comment further, other than to note that Saunders is “an up-and-coming” cinematographer whose reputation is being impugned, adding that “anytime anybody's accused of a felony, it can be damaging and that is why this case will be vigorously defended.”

On Friday, Polk County District Judge Odell McGhee also set a May 3 trial date for Maximus Production Services LLC of Minneapolis, one of three companies also charged with first-degree theft. The other two companies charged with first-degree theft included Polynation Pictures LLC and The Scientist LLC, both of Council Bluffs.

Court records indicate Maximus Production Services filed claims for rental equipment that were significantly inflated, such as $225 each for a push broom, a hand broom, a metal rake, a pick axe and a sledge hammer, and two shovels for $450. The invoices also included various sizes of step ladders that ranged from $900 each up to $1,125, and a 24-foot extension ladder reported to have been rented for $1,350.

Assistant Polk County Attorney Jim Ward declined to comment on the case after Friday's hearing.

Also Friday, confusion among attorneys caused District Associate Judge Gregory Brandt to reschedule a preliminary hearing for former Iowa Film Office manager Thomas Wheeler, 41, of Indianola, who was charged with non-felonious misconduct in office, a serious misdemeanor.

Court documents allege Wheeler failed as director of the Iowa Film Office to verify the eligibility of an applicant for tax credits in December 2008.

One day earlier, Brandt denied Wheeler's request to disqualify the Iowa Attorney General's Office from prosecuting his case. Wheeler's attorney argued unsuccessfully that the attorney general's office had a conflict of interest by prosecuting him and defending the state in a lawsuit related to the state's film tax credit program.

The state's film tax credit fiasco already has claimed the jobs of Wheeler and five other people in the Iowa Department of Economic Development and its film office.

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rod.boshart@gazcomm.com