White Collar Crime

Disbarred PI Attorney Is Jailed After Reportedly Trashing Law Office From Which He Was Being Evicted

Criminally charged in September with stealing from clients, disbarred last month and ordered in a separate civil eviction case to vacate by Oct. 31 the Dallas law office for which he had failed to pay rent, a former Texas personal injury lawyer is now facing new trouble. Thomas Corea, who…

Nov 7, 2012 9:47 PM CST

W. Va. Lawyer Takes Plea in Federal Mail Fraud Case re $159K in Claimed False PD Billing Vouchers

A West Virginia private practitioner accused of defrauding the state’s public defender agency of $159,000 by billing for hours she did not work has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud. Lisa A. Weese, 43, remains free on bond pending sentencing after her Tuesday plea in U.S. District…

Nov 7, 2012 6:34 PM CST

Texas Lawyer Indicted and Jailed re Claimed Role in Alleged Mexican Drug Money-Laundering Conspiracy

An El Paso, Texas, lawyer was arrested Friday at a local restaurant and jailed, pending a Thursday detention hearing, on a sealed federal indictment that federal officials say charges him with a role in a claimed conspiracy to launder $600 million in Mexican drug cartel money. Federal officials say Marco…

Nov 6, 2012 10:11 PM CST

Pa. Lawyer Gets 33 Months for Embezzling Money From Clients Under Guise of Legal Fees

A suspended Pennsylvania lawyer has been sentenced to a 33-month federal prison term for embezzling more than $100,000 from clients. Kenneth Reidenbach, 61, was convicted last year of multiple felonies including bankruptcy fraud concerning money allegedly taken from four bankruptcy and divorce clients, under the guise of attorney’s fees, between…

Nov 5, 2012 4:58 PM CST

Vegas Judge, 5 Others Federally Indicted re Claimed $3M Fraud Scheme

A Nevada family court judge has been federally indicted, along with five other defendants, in a claimed $3 million fraud scheme that Clark County Judge Steven Jones allegedly used the power of his office to help promote. Jones has not been arrested but is expected to surrender Thursday to authorities,…

Oct 31, 2012 8:14 PM CDT

Federally Convicted of Helping Client Launder $200K, Prominent Defense Lawyer Gets Over 3 Years

Still proclaiming his innocence, a high-profile criminal defense lawyer convicted earlier this year in a $200,000 money-laundering conspiracy for which prosecutors said he earned $20,000 was sentenced Wednesday to a three and a half-year prison federal term. The prosecution in the Boston case had asked for five years; the defense…

Oct 31, 2012 5:34 PM CDT

Attorney Defendant Won’t Get Free Lawyer in Courthouse Fraud Case, Texas Judge Rules

A Texas lawyer facing 46 felony counts for based on allegations she double-billed Bexar County for her indigent defense services and forged judge’s signatures now says she herself needs free legal services. But a prosecutors contended that Hilda Valadez was engaging in “fraudulent indigency” to further benefit herself at the…

Oct 30, 2012 5:10 PM CDT

Attorney Found Guilty of Misdemeanor Law Firm Theft, Acquitted by Judge on Over 15 Felony Charges

An Ohio lawyer was found guilty after a bench trial Friday of a misdemeanor petty theft from his former law firm, because he had a client make out a $500 check to him personally and did not share the payment. However, Jesse Jackson Jr., 48, was acquitted by Butler County…

Oct 29, 2012 8:46 PM CDT

Federal Judge Axes 1 Count in Drug Cover-up Case of Ex-Tenn. Jurist, Calls Proof In Others ‘Slim’

Things began to look up a little bit Monday for a disgraced former Tennessee judge accused of lying to three other judges and a prosecutor to try to conceal a prescription drug-trafficking conspiracy related to a woman with whom he was having an affair. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer axed…

Oct 29, 2012 6:35 PM CDT

Top La. Court Nixes Lawyer’s Argument That Judicial Bribery Scheme Doesn’t Call for Disbarment

A suspended Louisiana trial lawyer has been permanently disbarred for his role in a Mississippi judicial bribery scheme. Rejecting arguments by Paul S. Minor that attorney discipline should not take place until his criminal appeals are final and that disbarment is too harsh a punishment, given the mitigating circumstances, the…

Oct 19, 2012 10:00 PM CDT

Mo. Lawyer Faces Federal Mail-Fraud Case, Accused of Keeping Clients’ Insurance Payments

A longtime Missouri lawyer has been federally indicted on mail fraud charges for allegedly misappropriating insurance money that should have gone to his clients. Stephen B. Evans, 45, had his law license suspended earlier this year, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is accused in a three-count indictment announced Thursday…

Oct 19, 2012 4:05 PM CDT

Settlement Stops Trial of Lawyer’s Claim That Insurer Set Him Up for Prosecution, Ruining His Career

A trial of a Texas lawyer’s tortious interference lawsuit seeking $25 million in damages from an insurer that he claimed ruined his career by setting him up for criminal prosecution came to a sudden halt Tuesday after the parties reached a settlement. Attorney John Flood, who represents plaintiff Todd Hoeffner,…

Oct 18, 2012 5:40 PM CDT

Disbarred Lawyer Takes Plea in Attorney ID-Theft Case, Gets a Year in Prison Followed By Probation

A now-disbarred Georgia lawyer accused of impersonating another attorney and practicing in that lawyer’s name after his own license to practice was suspended took a plea Wednesday. Elliott J. Vogt, 34, who was also accused of forging legal papers while ineptly representing dozens of clients, pleaded guilty to theft by…

Oct 17, 2012 9:55 PM CDT

Law Firm Seeks 12.5 Percent Share of Ex-Banker Birkenfeld’s $104M IRS Whistleblower Award

A Washington, D.C., law firm retained by Bradley Birkenfeld to help him tell U.S. authorities how a Swiss bank was aiding Americans in evading taxes is now seeking a 12.5 percent of his $104 million whistleblower award from the Internal Revenue Service. The former employee of UBS AG, the biggest…

Oct 17, 2012 4:30 PM CDT

Lawyer Faces Federal Case, Accused of Handling Client Trust Money in Ponzi-Scheme-Like Manner

A Kansas lawyer has been charged in federal court in Topeka with stealing more than $463,000 from his client trust account, which he is accused of handling in a manner equivalent to a Ponzi scheme. Robert M. Telthorst, 52, faces charges of money laundering and wire fraud after prosecutors say…

Oct 15, 2012 5:30 PM CDT