HELENA – A Missoula man accused of running an investment scheme regarding a bogus cowboy documentary – and a made-up Montana breast cancer charity – has been temporarily restrained from soliciting any new investments as his case is further investigated.
Helena District Judge Mike Menahan issued a preliminary injunction on May 27 against Matthew McClintock, who has also gone by a series of other aliases including Michael Willis or Odell McClintock, preventing him from soliciting any more investments into his alleged documentary about the “true grit” of “the early Montana cowman.”
The order, requested by the office of Montana Securities Commissioner Monica J. Lindeen, grew out of an ongoing investigation into McClintock and his Bar M Productions, an unregistered Montana business. Neither McClintock nor his company have registered or have sought an exemption under the Montana Securities Act, a requirement for any businesses or individual who solicits money from investors.
The case came to Lindeen’s office from the Missoula County Police Department after an advertising and marketing firm McClintock hired to find investors in his movie began to suspect the movie was a fraud. McClintock told investors Clint Eastwood would narrate the documentary and that a University of Montana historian was consulting with the project, which McClintock claimed would be broadcast on Montana PBS.
McClintock claimed a portion of the documentary’s royalties from the film would go to the Western Montana Breast Cancer Fund.
However, Lindeen’s investigation revealed that the UM professor allegedly involved in the film is not part of project and has asked McClintock to stop using his name. Eastwood is not part of the project in any way. Montana PBS confirmed there is not now – nor has there ever been – an agreement to air the film. Finally, the investigation could find no indication that the breast cancer charity exists.
Although Lindeen’s office has not charged McClintock with a crime yet, based on the investigation’s early findings, the likelihood that Montana investors could be harmed by McClintock’s continued behavior is high. Therefore, Lindeen requested the preliminary injunction.
McClintock has previously served time in Oklahoma for obtaining money by false pretense. He has also been charged, found guilty and sentenced to prison in Madison County, Montana, for deceptive practices. He is currently on probation for that conviction.
He is scheduled to appear before Menahan on June 16.
Monica J. Lindeen, Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, Montana State Auditor
1-800-332-6148 – www.csi.mt.gov
Source: Montana State Auditor
