Former Houston city treasurer sentenced to prison for wire fraud, money laundering, tax evasion

Former City of Houston Treasurer Jess Adams was sentenced on July 9 to two-and-a-half years in prison for embezzling more than $1.16 million from the City of Houston and later from a Wasilla-based equipment company, and then evading taxes on the embezzled profits alleged to have taken place from 2015 to 2022.

He had been indicted on 31 counts of embezzlement after a federal grand jury in Anchorage returned an indictment on March 21, 2023.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Adams, 67, was the Treasurer for the City of Houston from 2015 through 2018, where he was entrusted with bookkeeping responsibilities and had administrative access to the city’s accounting records and software. Adams used this access to direct electronic transfers from the city’s bank account to a personal account in his name, which he maintained to hide the embezzled funds. He then created fictitious entries in the city’s accounting records to disguise these payments as legitimate business expenses.

In October 2018, the City of Houston placed Adams on administrative leave, and the next month resigned his position. A year later, Adams was employed as a bookkeeper by an equipment company, where he exercised control over the company’s accounting records and software. Using this access, Adams directed electronic transfers from the company’s bank account to other personal accounts that he opened in his name to hide the embezzled money. To conceal his activity, Adams used fictitious entries in the company’s accounting software to make it appear as though these funds were transferred for the payment of legitimate business expenses.

Adams then laundered the money he embezzled from the equipment company by making several wire transfers from his personal bank account to other accounts, each at a value greater than $10,000.

To further conceal his embezzlement and evade his taxes, Adams – a former seasonal tax return preparer for a national tax advisory company – filed false individual income tax returns for tax years 2016 through 2021. These returns did not disclose the additional income he embezzled.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason for the District of Alaska ordered Adams to serve three years’ supervised release and to pay over $1.5 million in restitution to the City of Huston, a private company and the IRS.

Trial Attorney Boris Bourget of the Tax Division, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bradley and former Assistant U.S. Attorney George Tran for the District of Alaska prosecuted the case.

“Mr. Adams abused his positions of trust to greedily deceive and steal from victims and the U.S. government,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “His actions caused serious, life-long harm for some of the victims. My office is fully committed to working with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who prey on innocent victims and seek justice for anyone who is impacted by their deplorable actions.”

“Stealing from both the government and from members of the community, Mr. Adams chose to cause great harm wherever he worked,” said Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office, which investigated the case, with substantial assistance from the Alaska State Troopers.

“Because financial crimes cause real damage to real people, there are consequences for committing these crimes, as Mr. Adams is learning today. IRS-CI is committed to putting a stop to criminals who prey on the well-being of our communities.”