An 83-year-old man who ran the Portland (Oregon) Marathon for decades has been sentenced for tax evasion on money he stole from the charitable organization that supported the race.
Lester V. Smith received a sentence of three years’ probation, including eight months of home confinement.
Prosecutors said Smith operated the Portland Marathon Inc. for 35 years. He was the chairman of and was responsible for the charitable organization supporting the race. As president of the marathon, he was solely responsible for approving expenses from the marathon’s bank account.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Smith had transferred unauthorized funds to his personal checking account and used Marathon’s bank account to pay his credit card bills.
Prosecutors said Smith used Marathon’s bank account to pay for a $60,000 Infiniti SUV and used the money for home remodeling projects, shopping sprees and other services.
He pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to evade and defeat income tax. As part of the plea deal, wire fraud charges were dropped. Smith has been ordered to pay $411,279 to the IRS after underreporting taxable income to the IRS by $1.2 million.
The conviction followed a years-long investigation.
As marathon director, Smith claimed to promote other regional charitable causes.
“Running our program allows us to make contributions and grants to other nonprofits, service clubs, school athletic activities, and school athletic programs,” Smith wrote in a press release in 2016.
In 2018, the board of the Portland Marathon Inc. voted to disband and form a new organization to run the marathon. As a result that year’s marathon was cancelled.
“Upon assuming oversight responsibility, we made diligent efforts to move the Portland Marathon organization in a positive direction and resolve past challenges. Unfortunately, the position of the organization has proven too fragile. We concluded that the only responsible option was to dissolve the organization.” and distribute the remaining funds to charitable organizations, the board wrote in a 2018 open letter. Published by The Oregonian.
Organizers were successful in bringing the race back and by 2022 there were more than 7,000 participants divided between the marathon and half marathon of the event.