More charges filed in film tax credit case

DES MOINES – Additional felony charges were filed against filmmakers in connection to the state's film tax credit program, the Iowa Attorney General's Office announced Thursday.

Filmmakers Wendy Weiner Runge and Matthias Saunders already are facing first-degree theft charges in the case for allegedly inflating values on applications for film tax credits.

Prosecutors announced Thursday they had charged a third Minnesota filmmaker, Zachary LeBeau, and filed new charges against Runge and Saunders.

All three are now charged in Polk County District Court with a count of ongoing criminal conduct and 11 counts of fraudulent practice in the first degree.

Court documents outlining the allegations say the defendants in June 2009 submitted 15 applications to the film tax credit program for projects, some of which had no scripts or were nowhere near close to production.

Budgets from those projects totaled more than $133 million, with nine of the budgets or applications containing false or deceptive statements to obtain the tax credits, the documents allege. If the tax credits were issued based on the representations made in the applications and budgets, the defendants would have been able to claim more than $57 million in tax credits, according to the court documents.

LeBeau surrendered to arrest Thursday at the Polk County Jail and was released on $10,000 bond. Weiner Runge and Saunders are currently free on bond.

Ongoing criminal conduct is a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison; fraudulent practice in the first degree is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $1,000-$10,000.

The former head of Iowa Film Office, Thomas Wheeler, was previously charged with non-felonious misconduct in office.