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| Attorney Garve Ivey - Mobile County Circuit Court - June 15, 2000 |
A disbarred attorney from Walker County has been convicted on two counts of felony theft of property.
Garve
Ivey Jr., 67, pleaded guilty in a Walker County courtroom Wednesday,
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Thursday.
Ivey
admitted to unlawfully taking client funds from his trust account over a
period of several years to fund his extravagant lifestyle, Marshall
said. He pleaded guilty before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael
Streety, who was specially-appointed to preside over the case.
The investigation into Ivey began after
the Attorney General’s Office and the Alabama State Bar received
multiple complaints regarding theft of client trust funds. An extensive
investigation showed that on several occasions, Ivey would settle cases
on behalf of clients that were plaintiffs in personal injury or wrongful
death cases.
Instead of informing his
clients that a settlement had been reached and disbursing to the victims
their portions of the funds, he would transfer the settlement money
into his operating and personal accounts and use it to fund his lavish
and extravagant lifestyle, Marshall said.
In
2011, Ivey was disbarred from the practice of law by order of the
Supreme Court of Alabama. He had consented to disbarment based on two
investigation concerning the misappropriation of third-party and client
funds from Ivey’s trust account.
In 2012, he was indicted by a Walker County grand jury on
multiple charges of theft of property. In those cases, authorities
said, Ivey was charged with 10 counts of first-degree theft of a check
or currency valued a more than $2,500 and one count of second-degree
theft of a check or currency valued between $500 and $2,500. The money
belonged to 14 people.
The following year, Ivey was again indicted in Walker County with two additional theft charges.
After
many years of delays, the case was set to go to trial in April.
However, Marshall said, at a Wednesday status hearing, Ivey agreed to
plead guilty to two felony counts and pay restitution in the amount of
$381,515.20. Both counts are class B felonies and are controlled by the
Alabama presumptive sentencing guidelines. Sentencing will be left to
the discretion of the court and is set for April 29, 2019.
“The
victims in this case went to Ivey for help at a time of great need,”
Marshall said in a prepared statement. “These people were injured in an
accident or a family member was wrongfully killed and they were seeking
justice. Instead, they were victimized again by the greed of an
individual who used his position of trust to enrich himself.”
“This
type of conduct erodes the trust that the people of Alabama should be
able to place in members of the Alabama bar,’’ Marshall said. “It will
not be tolerated.”
Ivey, who was once
active in politics and was the brother of former Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey,
was sentenced by a judge in 2000 to 30 days in jail and fined $1,000
for his role in an ex-hooker’s election-year 1998 accusations against
former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom. The misdemeanor conviction, however, was
reversed and a judgement of acquittal entered in 2001 in that case.
Disbarred lawyer Garve Ivey Jr. convicted of theft, ordered to pay $381,515
3 comments:
Who keeps track to make sure the money is paid back? I hope interest is part of the payback too.
Exactly. My guess is that he'll never be forced to pay back the money.
The guardian for my husband took his name completely off his annunity and had her name put on it. I was the beneficiary. The crooked judge gave it to her nothing is secure from a bunch of thieves as long as they are lawyers and judges
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