Steven Krell, a 61 year old ex-accountant and Los Angeles lawyer who pleaded no contest to state grand theft charges in 2008, was sentenced on Monday to probation and house arrest. Krell was sentenced for filing federal false tax returns after embezzling nearly $1.5 million from two of his clients, including an elderly woman with dementia.
Krell, a former partner in the Los Angeles firm of Green, Hasson and Janks, pleaded guilty in June.
Krell admitted in his plea agreement that he embezzled $1,476,900 from the elderly woman, her trust and a physician starting in 1997 and continuing through 2003, says Michael Moriarty of the Internal Revenue Service.
Anderson sentenced Krell on Monday in downtown Los Angeles to three years of probation, including 30 hours of community service per month and eight months of house arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Rochmes said.
Krell’s attorney, Michael Proctor, told the court his client had already paid about $500,000 in restitution.
In February 2008, Krell was sentenced in Los Angeles Superior Court to seven years and four months behind bars for the same underlying conduct – grand theft.
The judge stayed the prison term on the condition that Krell comply with the terms of his probation and continue long-term psychiatric treatment after he made “significant” restitution payments, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Krell also served less than a year in county jail and was placed on supervised release for seven years.
In the state case, Krell, who was also once a licensed attorney, admitted helping himself to nearly $1 million from the trust of a 90-year-old woman, who was mentally incapacitated, and looting about $400,000 from the physician’s account he was managing.
As part of his plea, Krell agreed to file amended tax returns, reflecting $514,125 in illegally obtained proceeds, Moriarty said. In addition to the tax due, Krell is liable for the fraud penalty, which amounts to 75 percent of the tax due on the proceeds he embezzled.
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Former Los Angelas Lawyer Embezzles $1.5 Million Sentenced for Tax Crime
Good -- get him on tax crimes and lock him up
ReplyDeletesweeeeet deal i want the crooks to serve time in prison house arrest boo hoo not enough misery there very disappointing not enough reason for others not to risk repeating what this crook did cause the others are getting away with it and statute of limitations is on the side of....the crooks
ReplyDeleteAll thieves of big money should also be charged with tax evasion!
ReplyDeletePile up the charges and put him away.
ReplyDelete