Man Convicted Of Swindling Louisiana Film Tax Credit Program

BATON ROUGE (AP) — A federal jury has convicted a 38-year-old Pineville man of swindling money from Louisiana's film tax incentive program

         Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson sentence J. Matthew Keith Tuesday to six months in federal prison.

         U.S. Attorney Walt Green said in a news release that Jackson also ordered Keith to pay $1.2 million in restitution to the state.

         The new conviction comes two weeks after Keith's co-conspirator, 38-year-old filmmaker Daniel Garcia, was given a similar sentence for creating false documentation to fraudulently obtain close to $1 million in film tax credits.

         Critics of Louisiana's film tax plan point to these cases, among a dozen criminal matters related to the incentive policy, as examples of weak spots in the purported economy-boosting program that could allow thieves to steal taxpayer dollars.