Idaho veteran charged with defrauding American Legion in $1.45 million federal case
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- A grand jury in Boise indicted former Idaho American Legion commander for $1.45M fraud.
- Charles “Abe” Abrahamson faces federal charges of tax fraud and wire fraud.
- If convicted, the defendant faces up to 23 years in prison and restitution to victims.
A former commander of the Idaho American Legion has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boise on charges of years of tax fraud, and wire fraud totaling at least $1.45 million, Idaho U.S. Attorney Bart Davis announced Monday.
Charles “Abe” Abrahamson, 56, of Venice, Florida, made his initial federal court appearance Monday in southwest Florida after he relocated from Mountain Home. If convicted on the combined charges, he faces up to 23 years in federal prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that details the indictment.
The Idaho American Legion last year accused Abrahamson of embezzling at least $750,000 of its money. The statewide nonprofit, which counts about 100 local chapters with about 8,000 members, primarily provides services to military veterans. An investigation by the Idaho Statesman that included interviews and review of public and nonprofit documents accounted for hundreds of thousands of dollars in allegedly missing funds.
“Beginning in approximately 2018 until approximately April 2024, Abrahamson knowingly devised a scheme to defraud the nonprofit and another individual,” according to the release that details the indictment. “Abrahamson made transfers to his personal financial accounts, payments to his personal credit cards, unauthorized expenses, and ATM withdrawals, from the nonprofit’s financial accounts, all for his own personal use and gain.”
Over that time, Abrahamson obtained and controlled the $1.45 million in “unrecoverable forfeitable property,” according to the indictment. He also is charged with filing tax returns that falsely stated his total income for the years 2020, 2022 and 2023.
Besides time in prison, Abrahamson also faces restitution for the losses incurred by the victims, the news release said. Trial dates in U.S. District Court in the District of Idaho have not yet been scheduled. The case will be prosecuted by Sean Mazorol, an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Idaho.
Idaho American Legion leadership started to recognize financial irregularities in late 2023 when notices arrived for an unpaid loan and tax debts. They began an internal audit of the nonprofit’s books, which Abrahamson managed in the senior position that oversaw organization finances. Other discrepancies soon surfaced and the Legion found that its bank and investment savings accounts were nearly wiped out.
Defendant has prior criminal fraud convictions
The federal charges against Abrahamson come nearly 20 months after the Legion suspended him in April 2024. Idaho State Police executed a search warrant two days later at Abrahamson’s Elmore County home and eventually turned the case over to IRS criminal investigators.
“I think it’s about time,” Bob Skinner, the Idaho American Legion’s national executive committeeman, told the Statesman in a phone interview Monday. “I don’t know what took so long, but they work at their own speed. But we kept calling them to find out what was happening, and they said, ‘We’re working on it, we’re working on it.’ ”
Reached by phone, an IRS spokesperson declined to comment further Monday, noting Abrahamson’s case remains in the indictment phase.
The Statesman’s investigation also found that Abrahamson, a U.S. Marine and Idaho Army National Guard veteran, served nearly seven years in state prison for parole violations tied to financial fraud. He never disclosed his prior incarceration or the extent of his criminal financial history to the Legion, Skinner previously told the Statesman.
Abrahamson frequently wrote bad checks for thousands of dollars in the late 1990s, court records showed. He eventually faced felony criminal charges in 2000 and accepted a plea deal for probation in place of a seven-year prison sentence. In a separate felony case that year for passing thousands of dollars in bad checks, Abrahamson also received probation and restitution with a suspended 10-year prison sentence.
In 2003, Abrahamson was arrested on several alleged probation violations after an ex-girlfriend accused him of defrauding her and her friends for tens of thousands of dollars. He was ordered to pay restitution and his original prison sentences were reimposed. He served time in the Idaho prison system before he was released on parole in December 2010, and his full sentence was discharged in July 2014.
