Disbarred attorney who stole millions from LA and OC clients sentenced to 12 years

Philip Layfield was found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes and failure to file a tax return.

 

By City News Service

A disbarred personal injury lawyer who operated in Irvine, Los Angeles and El Segundo was sentenced to 12 years behind bars on Thursday, Feb. 17, for stealing the majority of a multimillion-dollar settlement that should have been paid to a car accident victim, as well as cheating on his taxes.

Philip Layfield was found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes and failure to file a tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Following the August 2021 jury verdicts in Los Angeles federal court, the 48-year-old Layfield was remanded into federal custody.

After he had misappropriated millions of dollars from clients’ settlements, Layfield relocated to Costa Rica. Just before getting on a flight headed there, Layfield borrowed $700,000 from a business lender by providing misleading information and failing to disclose material information.

He then used substantial portions of the loan proceeds for personal expenses, including buying and shipping horses to Costa Rica, evidence showed.

In 2016, Layfield entered into an agreement to represent an individual who was struck by an automobile in Orange County and suffered significant injuries. After negotiating a $3.9 million settlement related to the accident, Layfield misappropriated most of the money owed to the victim — about $2 million — for personal and business uses, including to pay clients whose settlement proceeds Layfield had earlier misappropriated.

The car accident victim received only $25,000 of the settlement proceeds. Layfield also failed to file a federal income tax return for the tax year 2016, despite receiving more than $3 million, including embezzled client settlement money. He also caused his law firm to not pay about $120,976 in payroll taxes to the United States government for the second quarter of 2017.

The State Bar of California disbarred Layfield in October 2018. He also was a certified public accountant, but his CPA license expired in July 2019.

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Disbarred attorney who stole millions from LA and OC clients sentenced to 12 years

Disbarred attorney sentenced for fraud, tax evasion

by Michael Howell

Former Stevensville attorney Ronald Dean Lords, who last July admitted to defrauding investors and to evading income taxes in a real estate investment scheme in which he lost more than $1 million in the futures market, was sentenced this month to three years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

“Lords used his attorney-client relationship to gain access to victims’ money and then abused their trust to gamble away their money in the futures market. Lords also tried to cheat on his income taxes by failing to declare investors’ money as income. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to catch and convict white collar criminals, hold them accountable and seek justice for victims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson in a press release.

The case was investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Racicot.

The government alleged that Lords was a lawyer, who operated Eagles Landing Legal Services, PC, as well as a licensed realtor and general contractor, who operated Eagles Landing Construction, Inc. The construction company purported to develop real property and build homes. From June 2011 to September 2018, in Ravalli County, Lords defrauded several victims by convincing them to invest money in his construction company.

Lords told them he would make monthly interest payments, use the money to build homes and repay the money after the homes were sold. Lords said he would return the victims’ money within 30 days of any request. Instead of using the money to fund construction projects as promised, Lords used a portion of the new money to make interest payments to prior investors and lost the majority of the funds in the futures market. When some victims demanded their principal back, Lords admitted he lost more than $1 million in the futures market and did not have their money.

The government also alleged that Lords failed to declare $432,608 he received from several victims in 2015 as “other income” on his taxes, resulting in unpaid taxes of $152,734 for that year.

Initially charged with 19 counts – six for wire fraud, nine for money laundering and four for filing false tax returns – Lords was facing a maximum 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the wire fraud charge; 10 years in prison, a $250,00 fine and three years of supervised release on the money laundering charge and three years in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the false tax returns charge.

At the sentencing hearing on November 10, however, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy dismissed all but three of the counts, and sentenced Lords on only one count each for fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. He was sentenced to serve three years on each count with the sentences running concurrently.

According to an article in the Billings Gazette, at the sentencing hearing Lords apologized to the court for his actions and his attorney noted that he had made significant strides in repaying a handful of victims. It also mentions that victim impact statements were given by two of the 14 people that Lords took money from. Stan Hendrickson is quoted as saying “I truly believe the man has no moral conscience and should be sentenced accordingly.” Lords has been disbarred from practicing law in Montana. He is ordered to not engage in any gambling or wagering activities when released from prison. He is also prohibited from entering casinos.

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Disbarred attorney sentenced for fraud, tax evasion

Former Mercyhealth vice president charged in kickback scheme

by Neil Johnson

The U.S. Attorney in Madison on Wednesday charged a former Mercyhealth official and the operator of a former marketing firm in a kickback scheme that officials said defrauded the Janesville-based health system of more than $3 million.

The Western District U.S. Attorney’s office, in a six-page charging document, lays out details of how former Mercyhealth vice president Barbara Bortner, 57, Milton, and marketing firm operator Ryan Weckerly, 46, Sycamore, Illinois, are suspected of creating business bank accounts to sock away checks and cash they’d siphoned off in a five-year-long scheme involving inflated billings by Weckerly.

Bortner, a 30-year employee of Mercyhealth, was charged in federal court Wednesday with wire fraud and tax evasion. Weckerly was charged with aiding and abetting in the preparation of a false income tax return.

Bortner and Weckerly both waived their rights to indictment by a grand jury and agreed to plead guilty, according to the release.

“The wire fraud and tax charges stem from Bortner and Weckerly’s involvement in a kickback scheme while she was the vice president of marketing at Mercyhealth,” the U.S. Attorney said in the release.

Janesville-based Mercyhealth is a multi-billion dollar nonprofit hospital and health care group that operates more than a half-dozen hospitals and more than 60 clinics across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, including Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center, Janesville.

Weckerly was owner of Morningstar Media Group, a marketing agency based in Sycamore, and his company did business as health and wellness publication InVironments Magazine, the charging documents said.

“Beginning in February of 2015, Bortner and Weckerly devised a plan whereby he would submit inflated invoices to Bortner for his marketing work for Mercyhealth,” the release states.

“Bortner and Weckerly agreed that he would provide monetary kickbacks to Bortner for the funds he received from the inflated invoices,” the release continues. “In return, Bortner agreed she would continue to use Morningstar Media Group as the primary marketing agency for Mercyhealth. The kickback scheme continued until June of 2020 and involved over $3 million.”

Bortner failed to report her income from the kickbacks on her federal tax return in 2018, according to the release.

Weckerly was charged with aiding and abetting because he gave Bortner a false Form 1099 for 2019 that underreported her compensation from Weckerly by excluding the amount of money received in the kickback scheme, according to the charging documents.

Weckerly wrote 103 checks that totaled more than $2 million to Bortner and also gave her cash. Bortner deposited much of the money in an account she created at the Bank of Milton, one of the charging documents states.

The Bank of Milton account was in the name of “WeInspire LLC,” the document states.

According to the charging document, Bortner created WeInspire to make it “appear that she was performing legitimate work for InVironments Magazine.”

“In reality, Bortner’s creation of WeInspire was an attempt to disguise the source of the kickback payments from Weckerly,” the charging document continued.

Mercyhealth CEO Javon Bea previously told The Gazette that Bortner had clearance from Mercyhealth to authorized up to about $10,000 of marketing invoices at one time. Bea indicated that might have allowed the scheme to roll out incrementally over a five-year span.

He said earlier that Mercyhealth believes Bortner was the only Mercy employee involved.

The charges against Bortner and Weckerly were the result of an Internal Revenue Service investigation.

Bea indicated he learned of the fraud in early August and fired Bortner at that time. Mercyhealth also dissolved a partnership with a “vendor” believed to be involved in the scheme.

Bea told The Gazette that Mercyhealth officials were disappointed and shaken by the fraud, both because of Bortner’s longevity with the health care group, but also because she’d been a “big presence” at Mercy and a trusted member in its administrative inner circle.

Mercyhealth’s most recently available tax records show Bortner was being paid a $350,000 annual salary as the head of Mercy’s marketing division.

Bea said Bortner started out at Mercyhealth as an associate in the marketing department and moved up through the ranks.

According to the timeline laid out by the U.S. Attorney, the fraud Bortner and Weckerly are accused of continued to roll out through the summer of 2020.

That means the scheme would have overlapped a period in 2020 when Mercy laid off dozens of staff and chopped executive pay.

At that time, the health care group indicated it was weathering significant revenue losses from delinquent Medicaid repayments in Illinois. Mercyhealth had to scuttle patient surgeries for weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Bortner has not responded to multiple requests for comment by The Gazette.

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Former Mercyhealth vice president charged in kickback scheme

Former PA Guardian ad Litem, Danielle Ross, Pleads Guilty to Tax Charge

A Lackawanna County attorney who was investigated for her handling of child custody disputes pleaded guilty Monday to tax evasion, bringing to a close one chapter of an investigation into the county's family court system.

Danielle Ross, former guardian ad litem for the county, admitted she failed to report more than $200,000 in income she received from parents who were required to hire her to review their cases and provide a recommendation to judges tasked with deciding custody arrangements.

The plea comes 10 months after a grand jury issued an indictment against Ms. Ross, who has been heavily criticized by several parents who claimed she coerced them into following unreasonable recommendations and forced them to pay fees for services they neither wanted nor needed.

Speaking after the hearing, Ms. Ross' attorney, David Solfanelli, stressed the plea, entered before Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo, had no connection to any allegations of misconduct involving her handling of cases. It deals solely with her failure to report income.

"Some people may perceive it, but it had nothing to do with her job performance," Mr. Solfanelli said. "It has to deal with reporting taxes."

The county paid Ms. Ross a retainer of $38,000. She was also permitted to privately bill parents $50 per hour. The investigation revealed she failed to report the private fees paid to her in 2009 and 2010.

Under a plea deal, Ms. Ross pleaded guilty to one count of attempted income tax evasion for 2009. In exchange, a second tax charge was dropped.

In a related case, Ms. Ross' husband, Walter Pietralczyk Jr., pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 to filing a false tax return for 2009.

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Former Lackawanna guardian ad litem pleads guilty to tax charge

See Also:
PA Attorney Accused of Federal Tax Fraud Pleads Not Guilty

Judge grants prosecutors access to some of guardian's records

Federal prosecutors can obtain information on tax and criminal law classes taken by former Lackawanna County guardian ad litem Danielle Ross, but other documents related to extracurricular activities and disciplinary reports are off-limits, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo agreed with prosecutors that some information they sought is relevant to the prosecution of Mrs. Ross on tax-evasion charges. But he limited the information they can obtain, agreeing with Mrs. Ross that a subpoena issued to Widener University School of Law was too broad.

The decision is among several pretrial rulings Judge Caputo issued Tuesday. He also granted Mrs. Ross' request that prosecutors disclose any information they have that might impeach the credibility of their witnesses, but denied her request to learn the identity of the witnesses.

Ms. Ross, 36, served as a court-appointed advocate to represent children in parent custody disputes. A grand jury indicted her in February on charges she failed to disclose about $200,000 in parents' payments from 2009 to 2010.

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Judge grants prosecutors access to some of guardian's records

Colorado Lawyer Indicted on Charges of Defrauding the IRS

A Denver-area lawyer has been indicted for allegedly defrauding the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver said Monday.

According to the indictment, the lawyer, Eva Melissa Sugar, 59, worked with Financial Fortress Associates, an organization that the government said promoted and advised clients on schemes to avoid the payment of income and other federal taxes.

Sugar, of Aurora, is self-employed and specializes in tax and other legal matters in Denver.

The indictment accuses Sugar and others of conspiring to defraud the United States for "the purpose of impeding, impairing, obstructing, and defeating" the "lawful functions" of the IRS.

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Denver Area Lawyer Indicted on Charges She Defrauded the IRS

CA: Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

A Santa Monica attorney was sentenced Monday to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution for schemes to evade taxes and misappropriate client fees, according to the IRS, which investigated the case.

Robert M.L. Baker III, who owns a law firm on 20th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release following imprisonment.

Baker, 46, pleaded guilty in January to “willfully subscribing and filing false tax returns in a conspiracy to commit tax fraud,” said IRS Special Agent Felicia McCain.

According to the plea agreement, Baker admitted that he “along with others devised a scheme to misappropriate client fees and settlements in order to evade payment of his tax obligations,” McCain said.

Judge Otis D. Wright ordered Baker to pay $1,140,879 in restitution to the IRS and $916,000 in restitution to a victim.

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Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

KY Nursing Home Administrator Admits to Stealing From Patients

A former administrator at a Kentucky nursing home has pleaded guilty to multiple charges including: theft, exploitation of a vulnerable adult and tax fraud.

The nursing home administrator identified as James Tackett, confessed to stealing more than $300,000 from patients he was responsible for caring for at the Golden Years Rest Home (ironically a non-profit facility).

Authorities were tipped off to Mr. Tackett's activities after several patients at the facility complained about not receiving economic stimulus checks from the federal government. The complaint was then passed on to the Social Security Administration and Department of Revenue who quickly learned that Mr. Teckett took it upon himself to take his patient's funds.

This is not an isolated criminal venture for Mr. Tackett. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to physically abusing a patient at Golden Years Rest Home.

Full Article and Source:
Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Nursing Home Administrator Admits to Stealing From Patients

Ward Hit With $18,000 Tax Bill

An elderly man missing nearly $168,000 from his estate after he went into guardianship under Jeffrey Schend is liable for more than $18,000 in taxes and penalties after bills came due and went unpaid under Schend’s watch, records show.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue last year issued two tax warrants on a 78-year-old man for unpaid state income taxes, interest and penalties. Schend was in control of his affairs when the bills came due. The man’s missing funds are part of the criminal case against Schend, who’s charged in Outagamie County Court with six felony theft counts and one count of misdemeanor theft.

Tax warrants are liens that allow the state to collect money from wages and assets.

Wisconsin statutes on guardianships specifically cite tax payments among the responsibilities of those appointed to handle an incompetent client’s finances.

Statutes say guardians are to pay legally enforceable debts of their clients, “including by filing tax returns and paying any taxes owed, from the ward's estate and income and assets.”

“The guardian of estate of an individual would certainly have the fiduciary responsibility to attend to any tax-related issues on behalf of the ward,” said Aaron Janssen, an attorney for Outagamie County.

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Elderly Man Liable for $18,000 in Overdue Taxes From Money Missing After He Went into Guardianship Under Jeffrey Schend

Former Iowa Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud

A former Coralville attorney was indicted this week on three counts of filing false tax returns but a superseding indictment was filed Wednesday also charging him with 11 counts of mail fraud.

Dennis Bjorklund, 45, of Coralville, who lost his license in 2006 for an ethics violation, is charged with 11 counts of mail fraud and three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, according to an indictment filed in U.S. Southern District Court.

Bjorklund, as a criminal defense attorney between Aug. 1, 2005 through Aug. 31, 2006, would encourage potential clients charged with drunken driving to make a voluntary charitable contribution to obtain a more “favorable resolution,” according to the indictment. The specific charity recommended was “Re-Adapt.”

Bjorklund on Sept. 2005 started an alleged non-profit organization, “Rehabiliative Enterprises for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Training, also called Re-Adapt, according to the indictment.

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Former Coralville Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud

Judges Indicted in Fraud Scheme

Two former Pennsylvania judges were indicted yesterday on federal racketeering charges in connection with a scheme to place juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers.

A federal grand jury in Harrisburg returned a 48-count indictment against former Luzerne County judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella Jr., who are accused of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks related to the construction of two youth detention facilities.

Conahan and Ciavarella had pleaded guilty in February to honest services fraud and tax evasion in a deal with prosecutors that called for a sentence of 87 months in prison, far below federal guidelines.

But the deal was rejected last month by Senior US District Judge Edward M. Kosik, who said the two hadn’t fully accepted responsibility for the crimes, and the former judges switched their pleas to not guilty.

Yesterday’s indictment marked a dramatic escalation in the government’s pursuit of the disgraced judges. The charges include racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations and could bring decades in prison. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of at least $2.8 million, “which is alleged to be the proceeds of the charged criminal activity,’’ according to a news release issued by the US attorney’s office in Harrisburg.

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Ex-PA Judges Endicted in Fraud Scheme

See also:
Judges Plead Guilty

Class Action Against Judges

When Judges Stain Our Kids

Kickback Scheme Judges Sued

Alleged Public Corruption