Lawyer, a Harvard law grad, gets house arrest after he is convicted of theft and barratry
A lawyer has been sentenced to house arrest after his conviction for stealing $10,200 from a Seattle-area law firm where he was working despite having no law license in Washington state.
Philip Kong, a Harvard law grad, was sentenced last Wednesday to 60 days of electronic home detention, 30 days of community service and two years of probation, SeattlePI reports.
Jurors convicted Kong on Feb. 25 and found his “egregious lack of remorse” qualified him for a stiff penalty, according to SeattlePI. He was convicted of felony theft and barratry for practicing law in the state without a license.
Kong was accused of telling his client to send a $17,000 feel check directly to him before announcing his resignation from his firm, Desh International & Business Law. The firm had claimed Kong was entitled to keep only 40 percent of the money and he had stolen $10,200. Kong had claimed the $10,200 was an advance and he was guilty of no more than “chutzpah.”
Kong had a law license in Massachusetts and New York, but not in Washington.