Fourth person pleads guilty in scam that allegedly cost BigLaw firm $7M
A phony invoice scheme that allegedly bilked the Vedder Price law firm out of $7 million has produced another guilty plea.
The fourth and final defendant, Deborah Acuna, 63, of Oak Brook, Illinois, pleaded guilty last week, the Daily Herald and the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) report. She was sentenced to 10 months in jail and 18 months of probation, and ordered to pay $175,000 in restitution.
Acuna’s sister, Patricia Lapinski, was director of administration at Vedder Price in Chicago from 1975 until she was fired in 2013. Prosecutors alleged the sisters created a shell company called DAS Designs that overcharged Vedder Price for office furniture, then later billed the law firm without providing any goods and services.
Also charged in the conspiracy were a flooring company manager and a carpenter accused of charging for services that weren’t provided to the firm. The vendors then paid some of Lapinski’s bills, according to court filings cited by the Am Law Daily.
Prosecutors alleged the flooring manager and carpenter received $1 million for goods and services never provided, and the women’s company, DAS Designs, received $6.4 million in the scheme.
Lapinski was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty last year. The two vendors also pleaded guilty; one was sentenced to six months in jail and the other to two years of supervised release, according to the stories.
