Former attorney found guilty on charges in connection with financial exploitation of client

by Marissa Barrett 

 MANCHESTER, N.H. —

A former attorney has been found guilty of multiple felony charges for obtaining loans under false pretenses from a former client who suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office said Justin Nadeau received a $275,000 loan from the client in August 2018, then obtained a second loan in December. 

Officials said Nadeau tried to conceal the loans in several ways, including fabricating documents and forging his then-wife's signature.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in June. 

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Former attorney found guilty on charges in connection with financial exploitation of client

Craig Case Found Guilty in $690K Montecito Elder Fraud and Theft Case

A Santa Barbara jury on Thursday found local security company owner and part-time TV host Craig Case guilty on 63 of 64 counts related to the embezzlement of nearly $700,000

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Craig Case Found Guilty in $690K Montecito Elder Fraud and Theft Case

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

Rice Woman Found Guilty of Theft While Acting as a Guardian

by Lee Voss

FOLEY -- A Benton County jury has found a Rice woman guilty of illegally obtaining medical assistance while acting as the guardian and conservator for a man who was hurt in a car crash.

Fifty-four-year-old Sheila Burski was also charged with two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult for taking social security payments intended for that man, 69-year-old Norman Meinert.

Burski was found guilty on all three charges following a three-day trial this week.

Burski was appointed Meinert's guardian in December 2013. She listed Meinert had no assets when filing for medical assistance for him. From 2013 until Meinert's death in the fall of 2017, the county and state paid approximately $132,000 in medical assistance payments.

Upon his death, Burski completed a final accounting of Meinert's estate and court records show several discrepancies, including a real estate sale from Meinert to Burski and her husband in the amount of $510,000 in 2005.

In 2011, records show the contract for deed was satisfied somehow. Based on the monthly payments, Burski would have paid just over $162,000 of the $510,000. It's unknown if the nearly $350,000 remaining on the property was ever paid to Meinert.

The charges alleged Burski didn't disclose the property sale.

The contract for deed was satisfied in 2011 and with Meinert's accident occurring in 2013, the money fell within the 5-year look-back window to disclose assets. It ultimately would have prevented Meinert from qualifying for the medical assistance payments.

Burski was also charged with taking Meinert's social security payments, cashing them through her own bank account and failing to disclose those payments over a three-month span in 2017 prior to Meinert's death.

She'll be sentenced on June 30th. 

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Rice Woman Found Guilty of Theft While Acting as a Guardian

 

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Rice Woman Charged With Felony Theft While Acting as Guardian