'Rush' From $1.4M Law Firm Thefts Followed By Jail Term
A former legal assistant who pleaded guilty earlier this year to fraud and forgery in connection with the misappropriation of $1.4 million from a major Canadian law firm’s accounts was sentenced today to 42 months in prison.
A forensic psychiatrist told the court earlier in a pre-sentencing report that Penny Marcy Myslichuk, 36, misappropriated money from Bennett Jones trust accounts while she worked at the firm “because she could” and because “it gave her a rush,” the Calgary Herald reported last month.
She reportedly stole $1.4 million from the firm’s accounts between 2002 and 2005. Her methods included false checks and check requisitions, forging lawyers’ signatures, and transferring funds between accounts. When bank statements arrived, she reportedly altered them to conceal her crimes.
Prosecutor Susan Mulligan says Myslichuk initially began stealing to pay bills, but later did so to support a lavish lifestyle. “She took money because she wanted things other people had and things other people’s kids had.”
Defense attorney Balfour Der urged leniency, saying that his client is bankrupt and has nothing to show for 20 years of work.
Calling the misconduct by the mother of three a “a serious breach of trust over almost 3½ years, with numerous forgeries, destruction of records and falsehoods,” Provincial court Judge Frank Maloney rejected a defense argument for a community-based sentence, the Herald reports in another article today. However, the 42 months he gave her was a bit less than the four to five years sought by the prosecution.
Myslichuk also has been ordered to reimburse the firm $803,421. Bennett Jones earlier obtained about $500,000 through a civil seizure of virtually all of Myslichuk’s assets.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Legal Assistant Spent $1.4M of Firm Trust Money on Herself”
