Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Elder Law Attorney Ponzi Scheme

For five years, an attorney who specialized in elder law arranged community workshops where he sought investors for a bogus financial scheme that would siphon more than $40 million from his unsuspecting clientele, according to a federal prosecutor.

When the scheme collapsed earlier this year and investors began complaining to local police and the FBI, attorney Robert P. Copeland confessed to federal prosecutors in Atlanta, said his Decatur lawyer, Marcia G. Shein.

Shein said that Copeland surrendered to authorities because, "He didn't want to do this any more. He needed to resolve the problem."

In U.S. District Court, Copeland pleaded guilty to a criminal information (charges filed either prior to or in lieu of a grand jury indictment) charging him with a single count of wire fraud. He is free on $100,000 unsecured bond pending his July 10 sentencing.

Full Article and Source:
Ga. Lawyer Used Elder Law Practice to Snare Ponzi Victims

More information:
Georgia attorney pleads guilty to $28 million investment fraud scheme

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robert P. Copeland is doing what I suspect many others have done and are currently doing as I write this.

Robert Copeland is the lowest of the lowest scumbags and he deserves to rot in prison.

$40 million? How much will be recovered? Copeland mees to be caged like a wild animal in the middle of the town square.

Anonymous said...

He didn't want to do this anymore???? Oh come on. He'd do it forever. He must have felt he was about to get caught.

AntiShyster said...

Unsecured bond?

The guy's a scammer; he may be a scrammer!

Anonymous said...

Robert P. Copeland had a real profitable illegal gig going here, didn't he?

Another creepy creative lawyer wearing a costume of trust, driven by greed arranging workshops to gather his prey for the kill.

He should be strung up and left as prey for the vultures - give him a tiny taste of what others would like to do to this crook.

Anonymous said...

Really - I mean this.... with all the articles about thieving and dishonest attorneys, how the heck to they continue to control the world?

Anonymous said...

I hope they just keep on piling up the counts against him!