Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Former Attorney Pleads Guilty to Two County of Unlawful Dealing of Property by a Fiduciary

Matthew T. Graff, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful dealing of property by a fiduciary in 5th District Court Friday morning in a room full of former clients who are owed restitution by the suspended Utah attorney.

Graff, who gave up his Utah State Bar license, his passport and $450,000 to hold as restitution back in May, also pleaded guilty to a communication fraud charge out of Washington County.

Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett said the 30 victims his office is in contact with are owed a total of $1,925,835, but added that if other victims come forward with legitimate claims under the same crime, they are also promised restitution under the plea agreement.

Graff's attorney Gregory Skordas said his party believes the amount owed, as given by Garrett, is too high, but the total will still be more than $1 million.

"The plea agreement has a lengthy probation period of 60 months as opposed to a usual 36 months, and the reason for that was we thought it would take longer than three years to pay restitution," Skordas said.

Skordas said there is a plan to bring $250,000 in restitution to the court during sentencing, with the rest being collected by Graff during his probationary period.

Full Article and Source:
Attorney Pleads Guilty to Charges

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

He sure was living high - until the great fall.

Resitution is a must. Lawyers make a lot of money (besides what this guy stole) and have property, generally. All that should be taken away to repay the victims.

jerri said...

what a greedy low life this convicted criminal Matthew T. Graff is i was reading the comments at the newspaper site my gosh he worked over his own family members i am disappointed that he won't be serving time in the slammer cause that is a real wake up call yeah restitution is important but so is harsh punishment i don't this 60 months probation is nearly enough heck thats only 5 years for what he did he got a sweet deal sorry if i am alone in my thinking but he deserves real misery

Barbara said...

To all of you who say family theft is on the rise, Matthew T. Graff is here to prove you wrong.

Here's the real thief. The fiduciary.

Anonymous said...

You're right jerri resitution is something but harsh punishment must go with it.

Anonymous said...

he plans to bring in $250K to the sentencing to try to garner some sympathy.

I'd like to see this guy serve 10 years for what he did.

Anonymous said...

Known him for 30 years. He's been deceptive his whole life-to church, familyand "friends". Been working the scene with sex, lies, drugs and also his work-life. I am not shocked at all. What goes around comes around, Graff.

Anonymous said...

I have grown up and known Matt Graff for at least 30 years. He is and has been a deceptive snake for nearly his whole life. He has been a liar, a cheat, a pot-head, and sex-nut the whole ride. He has burned his family, "friends", and clients all the same consistently through the years. This honestly doesn't shock me at all. What goes around, comes around, Matt.

Sue said...

Thanks for the info Anon.

Graff is one of many.

I hope you get some satisfaction knowing that Matthew Graff was exposed, got caught, just think what they don't know and what the prosecutors couldn't prove and how many other victims due to Graff but the statute of limitations expired so he gets away free on those cases.

I wish this coward would have to do time in a state cage while being available to other inmates who would get word that he was a lawyer and how he did his crimes as a fiduciary.

R-Wa said...

I am surprised to see what anonymous wrote about Matt growing up. I was a few years younger in school and knew other members of the family better. But I don't remember those things about Matt. It is hard to believe that he was capable of what he did. He grew up such a nice and close family with devoted parents that taught him the opposite of what he has done. His family must be devastated...sounds like he has hurt a lot of people.

Anonymous said...

When this Matthew get out of prison?