Accused of stealing $1M from law firm, ex-accounting worker faces February trial
A onetime accounting department worker for a suburban Chicago law firm is expected to be tried in February for allegedly stealing more than $1 million from her former employer.
Leanna Kelty, 55, is accused in the DuPage County case of making unauthorized payments from Freedman, Anselmo, Lindberg and Rappe to a dummy corporation she controlled, converting over $1 million during a six-year period. She faces felony theft and forgery charges, reports the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.).
The firm, which is now known as Anselmo, Lindberg and Oliver, discovered unauthorized payments after Kelty quit in 2013. She is now serving time for stealing from a subsequent employer, and has said in letters to judges that she used the money to cover post-divorce living expenses and medical bills, the newspaper reports. Prosecutors point to a lifestyle that included luxury items such as boats and expensive vehicles.
Such law firm thefts by trusted employees, both alleged and actual, regularly make headlines. Tips about what law firms can do to protect themselves are included in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-employee gets 4 years in $163K law firm theft”
ABAJournal.com: “Paralegal takes plea in $600K law firm client theft; feds say he spent $550K on coin collection’
ABAJournal.com: “As law firm struggled due to undiscovered $5M theft, office manager and her family enjoyed luxuries”
