Ex-PI Lawyer, Accused of Keeping Client Settlements, Gets 41-Month Sentence

A former personal injury lawyer in Louisiana has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for lying to banks and forging client signatures.

Mel Credeur of Lafayette pleaded guilty last year to making false statements to a bank and forging securities of private entities, the Daily Advertiser reports. The charges stem from allegations he lied to banks to obtain extensions on credit lines, settled clients’ cases without their knowledge and forged their signatures to obtain the proceeds, the story says.

U.S. District Judge Richard Haik sentenced Credeur on Tuesday and ordered him to pay more than $769,000 in restitution. Credeur was disbarred in April (PDF).