On-the-lam ex-attorney wanted in client 'charity' and tax-fraud case is captured
Photo from FBI
wanted poster.
After five years on the lam, a former Iowa lawyer wanted in a federal fraud case has been captured in Colorado.
Dennis Bjorklund, 50, was federally indicted in Iowa in 2010. He is accused of defrauding clients he represented in drunken-driving cases by persuading them to donate to a “charity” whose funds allegedly went to Bjorklund himself. The attorney also allegedly defrauded the Internal Revenue Service by understating his income, reports the Iowa City Press Citizen
An FBI wanted poster provides additional details..
Bjorklund was disbarred in 2010 for “a broad range of misconduct including refusing to refund to clients unearned fees.” In its ruling stripping him of his law license the state supreme court said he “lies with reckless abandon” and “employs dishonesty as a routine component of his normal operating procedure,” the newspaper reports.
His public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Press Citizen and federal authorities declined to explain how and where they found Bjorklund in Colorado. He appeared in federal court in Denver last week and will be extradited to Iowa.
Hat tip: Radio Iowa
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “FBI manhunt for disbarred attorney publicized after 2010 indictment is unsealed”
