Co-Founder Of Morgan-McClure Motorsports To Plead Guilty To Tax Fraud

The co-founder of Abingdon-based Morgan-McClure Motorsports Larry McClure will plead guilty to tax fraud in a plea deal that dismisses charges regarding a painting invoice, his attorney Robert Wayne Austin confirmed Tuesday.

“He’ll be pleading guilty to one of the three indictments; the one that involves tax fraud,” Austin said.

The plea deal, signed by McClure on Monday and filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Abingdon, Va., states McClure will plead guilty to five counts, including making false statements to Internal Revenue Service investigators and filing false tax returns in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Austin confirmed.

As part the agreement filed Tuesday, McClure will have to refile his tax returns for those years.

Austin said Tuesday that McClure had no comment at this point. In an interview with the Herald Courier in October, shortly after his initial appearance on the charges, McClure said he appreciated the support he received from friends and fans.

General manager of his family’s motorsports team for more than 25 years, McClure was indicted by a federal grand jury that month on tax fraud charges and multiple charges relating to wire fraud, mail fraud and violations of federal tax law, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Oct. 28.

In those indictments, IRS investigators claimed that McClure’s tax returns omitted several large payments from an unidentified Florida man who leased race cars from him.

If convicted on all of the charges in the indictments, McClure would have faced a maximum penalty of 115 years in federal prison and up to $2.75 million in fines.

The plea deal outlined in Tuesday’s court filings would drop charges alleging that McClure had false invoices faxed from out of state stating that he spent $59,852 to paint four show-cars.

“I don’t think its appropriate for me to comment on what to expect or what I hope will be,” Austin said Tuesday. “Sentences in federal court are set by sentencing guidelines. Although the judge will look at the guidelines, they are discretionary, not mandatory.”

The family owned Morgan-McClure team won 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup races and 13 pole positions over a couple of decades relying on sponsorships from Kodak. That record included three victories at the famed Daytona 500.

When the sponsorship was discontinued in 2003, the Morgan-McClure team struggled, and in January halted operations and laid off 28 employees.

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