Reedsburg lawyer stole $1.6 million from client's trust to pay for home improvements, 2 trucks and a tractor

by Chris Ramirez

A Reedsburg lawyer will spend nearly four years in federal prison for embezzling $1.6 million from a client's trust accounts.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley on Thursday ordered Kristin Lein, 61, to serve 45 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud, money laundering and filing a false tax return.

Prosecutors alleged that in June 2019, Lein began transferring money from several accounts belonging to the client’s trust to her own personal bank account.

Lein and the beneficiary of the trust spoke in a Feb. 2, 2022, phone call about financial matters. She told the person the trust balance was over $1.8 million. 

But that wasn't true.

Prosecutors alleged the amount in the trust was significantly less due to her actions, and that she continued to embezzle money until the funds were depleted in September 2022. 

Timothy M. O’Shea, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, said in a statement an investigation revealed Lein used the embezzled funds to pay personal expenses, including improvements to her home in Sauk County.

She also used the money to buy multiple vehicles, including a 2019 F-250 pickup truck, a 2017 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and a 2020 Mahinda tractor, the statement said. 

Lein admitted she failed to report the income she obtained from the embezzlement on her 2019 personal tax return.   

The charges against Lein were a result of an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner handled the prosecution.

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Reedsburg lawyer stole $1.6 million from client's trust to pay for home improvements, 2 trucks and a tractor

Philly lawyer who stole $100,000 from elderly client to gamble gets 4 years in prison

by Erin Arvedlund

HEATHER KHALIFA / AP

As she grew more frail, elderly Philadelphia retiree Sarah Fauntleroy signed over power-of-attorney rights to a local lawyer John Conner.

Conner, 63, was a well-known criminal defense lawyer – but he also had a gambling problem.

On Thursday, Conner was sentenced in federal court for stealing more than $100,000 from the 88-year-old woman, whose caretaker and neighbor uncovered Conner’s crimes in 2017.

Conner will serve 46 months in prison; his lawyer Arnold Joseph requested that Conner be sent to the Fairton, N.J., correctional institute. Fauntleroy wanted to attend, according to prosecutors, but she died Sunday.

What’s so unusual about Conner isn’t just that he stole from an elderly client, but that the Temple Law graduate worked as a high-profile lawyer with Cozen and O’Conner, and for many years as a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. He started his own practice in 1995.

Prosecutors said the Conner case is part of a national sweep of financial elder abuse crimes that U.S. Attorney William “Bill” McSwain is pursuing under U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s initiative.

“The defendant’s conduct in this case was egregious,” said McSwain. “Stealing an elderly woman’s life savings, gambling it away at casinos, and then lying about it to federal agents – all as an officer of the court, an attorney who took an oath to act in the best interest of his clients and with a high moral standard.”

Erin Arvedlund

Sarah Fauntleroy, 88, testified against her former lawyer John K. Conner, who stole nearly $100,000 out of her accounts to gamble. She died Sunday, May 19, 2019, a few days before he was sentenced in federal court to nearly 4 years in prison.

Although she had suffered a stroke, Fauntleroy testified against Conner in writing as part of the trial.

Conner used her ATM card at casinos to withdraw money from Fauntleroy’s bank accounts in the amount of $105,632.01, according to court filings.

She was left with $15.07.

Homer Hills, a close friend and neighbor in Brewerytown, alerted the authorities after Fauntleroy’s phone and electricity were shut off. Hills and Fauntleroy’s caretaker suspected Conner of stealing her assets.

Conner subsequently lied to FBI agents and said Fauntleroy had given him permission to “borrow” nearly all of her money so that he could gamble at Parx and Sugarhouse casinos in Philadelphia and Tropicana and Borgata in Atlantic City, according to prosecutor Mark Dubnoff.

“Elder fraud is a pernicious crime, preying on the most vulnerable in society. She trusted him … and he betrayed that trust,” Dubnoff said during the hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In 2016, Fauntleroy asked her brother for help handling her affairs and health care, and he introduced her to Conner. Fauntleroy was impressed and signed a power-of-attorney agreement that granted Conner authority to manage her finances and pay her bills.

As part of the agreement, Conner promised to keep his assets separate from hers. Shortly after executing the POA, however, Conner added himself as a signatory to a checking account that she maintained at Wells Fargo Bank and obtained an ATM card to withdraw funds.

Conner also opened a joint savings account at Wells Fargo in his and Fauntleroy’s names. He then liquidated an annuity she had set up for her niece and deposited the proceeds, which exceeded $110,000, into that account.

Over eight months, Conner used the POA agreement to drain nearly all of Fauntleroy’s money from her bank accounts. From Aug. 16, 2016, until April 22, 2017, Conner used the ATM card to make 176 cash withdrawals at casinos. Checks to her caregivers bounced.

Fauntleroy revoked Conner’s POA in April 2017 and the U.S. Attorney charged him in 2018.

“I’m very happy with the sentence,” said Hills, who attended the hearing. “He just stepped in and preyed on her. He didn’t have an epiphany about a gambling addiction. He got caught.”

Conner testified that the pressure and loneliness of caring for his 95-year-old father seven days a week and running a law practice prompted him to turn to gambling -- in particular, slot machines.

“I’m not a perfect man,” he told the judge. “I’m a gambling addict. I gambled my own money until I ran out. Then I used her card. I’ve learned that a compulsive gambler’s judgment is flawed.”

Conner “has used this fall from grace to begin his road to recovery,” his lawyer wrote in court filings, by enrolling in the Livengrin Center and participating in Gamblers Anonymous. Conner also voluntarily placed himself on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Self-Exclusion from Gaming Activities list.

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Philly lawyer who stole $100,000 from elderly client to gamble gets 4 years in prison

Perth lawyer jailed for seven-and-a-half years for stealing almost $2 million from clients

Photo: Helen Tolson's theft from vulnerable clients was described as "despicable behaviour" by a judge. (ABC News: Hugh Sando)

A Perth lawyer has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years jail for stealing almost $2 million from her clients, including an elderly woman in a nursing home and the beneficiaries of a deceased estate.

Mother-of-three Helen Marie Tolson, 45, took the $1.96 million from trust accounts between September 2013 and August 2017, and used it to bolster her husband's business, pay off personal debts and buy two new cars.

At the time Tolson was working for her father's law firm and the District Court was told she falsified records to try to cover up her crimes.

Almost $978,000 was taken from a trust account belonging to a woman in a nursing home, while most of the other money was stolen from the estate of a deceased woman.

At one point she was questioned by a relative of one of the beneficiaries of the estate about where their money was, and she told them a false story that it was invested in two bank term deposit accounts.

When the relative insisted that the money be paid to them, Tolson made up another false story, claiming it had been stolen by bank employees.

She then wrote a letter pretending to be from a bank lawyer saying that the matter was being investigated, but when the relative called the phone number that was provided, he realised he was actually talking to Tolson and went to the police.

'Horrific breach of trust'

Tolson's barrister, Sam Vandongen SC, said his client fully understood the gravity of what she had done, including the falsification of records, which he said had been done "to stave off the inevitable".

He submitted that unlike other cases, her theft did not involve drugs or gambling, but was an attempt to fix the family's financial issues.

However, in taking the path she had chosen, Tolson had "made the choice to act dishonestly by stealing from a source that was readily available to her …"

Mr Vandongen said all of the stolen money had been repaid, partly by Tolson's father, whom she planned to reimburse, and partly from the sale of her family's house.

State Prosecutor Peter Phillips described the offences as "some of the worst" that a lawyer can commit, describing them as a "horrific breach of trust".

Judge Belinda Lonsdale accepted that Tolson was deeply ashamed and remorseful, saying from the evidence before her, she generally presented as a person with "a big heart" who was always willing to help.

Judge Lonsdale said it appeared Tolson had been motivated by a desire to ease the financial pressures on her family, but she also said there was "an element of greed" because some of the funds were used to ultimately benefit herself.

A particularly aggravating factor was Tolson's theft from an elderly woman in a nursing home — something she described as "despicable behaviour".

"… Those who take advantage of the elderly will be dealt with by severe punishment," she told Tolson.

Tolson pleaded guilty to nine stealing charges in total and will have to serve five-and-a-half years in jail before she can be released on parole.

Bookkeeper charged with stealing $3.5 million

In a separate case, a woman has appeared in court charged with more than 100 counts of stealing a total of $3.5 million from her employer.

Moe Moe Myint Kelly is facing charges of stealing from the Northbridge business over several years, starting in 2011.

 

  Photo: Moe Moe Myint Kelly plans to fight charges of stealing $3.5 million from her employer. (ABC News: Glyn Jones)

  

The East Perth woman is facing 115 charges in total.

It is alleged the 61-year-old committed the offences when she was the bookkeeper for the business and was responsible for banking.

Speaking outside court, she indicated she would be pleading not guilty.

Ms Kelly is due to appear in court again on January 8.

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Perth lawyer jailed for seven-and-a-half years for stealing almost $2 million from clients