A former campaign worker for a now-deceased Independent Maine U.S. Senate candidate, Max Linn, was found guilty on Thursday of stealing $225,000 that he had been given to invest in cryptocurrency.
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Matthew T. McDonald was found guilty of using funds for personal gain that Linn gave him in 2021 to invest in the former candidate’s name.
According to prosecutors, Linn never received the money back because McDonald used it for gambling, personal expenses, and day trading stocks and cryptocurrency for his own enrichment.
McDonald’s defense team reportedly claimed that Linn knew McDonald was not experienced in finance and nevertheless charged him with investing the substantial sum.
This defense did not convince the jury that McDonald was innocent of stealing the funds, and it is unclear how inexperience with investments would justify gambling away Linn’s money.
McDonald himself reportedly took the stand during his trial and claimed that there was a power imbalance between himself and Linn, his employer, and that Linn was “violent,” “abusive,” and didn’t pay him enough.
He also claimed that he failed to inform Linn that he had lost his money because he was afraid of his reaction.
Despite McDonald’s arguments, which seemingly did not deny that he had squandered the money, he was found guilty and convicted of theft by deception and theft by unauthorized taking.
Linn, who ran to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in 2020 as a conservative Independent, died in December 2021 at the age of 62 from an apparent heart attack. Nevertheless, Maine Assistant Attorney General Charles Boyle explained that it remained necessary to bring him to justice even in death.
“The rights of crime victims don’t pass along when they pass along,” he said.
“The importance in prosecuting some of these crimes is not just to find justice for the crime victims, but to protect the whole community,” he added.
McDonald is currently out on bail, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for a future date.
This is notably not the first time McDonald has made headlines. In 2021, he accused Linn of threatening him with a gun after he was unable to return the $225,000.
At the time, Linn’s attorneys denied the threatening incident, but a judge nevertheless granted a temporary protection order for McDonald against Linn.
