Published: August 21, 2008 11:42 am         

Wolgamot resigns as corporate counsel

DANVILLE — The City of Danville’s longtime corporate counsel resigned Wednesday in the face of a plea to federal criminal charges.

John “Pat” Wolgamot was scheduled for a morning hearing in U.S. District Court in Urbana before Chief Judge Michael P. McCuskey to change his plea to fraud charges. Notice of the hearing was filed Tuesday.

The Danville attorney had pleaded innocent to four counts of fraud in connection with a fraudulent paper scheme dating back to the mid-1990s. Another man, Brian Wasson of Ridge Farm, also stands accused in the case.

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said he received the resignation from Wolgamot on Wednesday, ending a tenure of more than 20 years with the city. Wolgamot didn’t offer a reason for the decision, Eisenhauer said.

“Pat and I had talked about the possibility occurring before. Someday he would retire,” Eisenhauer said, adding he did not anticipate it so soon.

Court documents indicate Wolgamot and his co-defendant faced a deadline of Aug. 28 to enter a guilty plea in the case and still receive an acceptance of responsibility by the court. A jury trial date of Sept. 22 was scheduled along with jury selection in the case.

U.S. District Court scheduling does not indicate a hearing date for Wasson in connection with the charges.

Wolgamot faces a charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and three counts of fraud and false statements, accusing him of fraudulent tax forms and obstructing the actions of the IRS beginning as early as the fall 1994.

The charges are part of a paper scheme in which trusts were sold to federal taxpayers by The Aegis Company. The trusts helped conceal taxpayer assets and income from the IRS and reduce income tax liability.

Courts records accuse Wolgamot of being a business associate of Wasson and the late Joseph Starns, both of whom created a Midwest Alternative Planning to promote the Aegis scheme. Wolgamot is accused of working with the two men to promote the Aegis scheme.