Lawyer gets 4 months for stealing from law firm, is ordered to pay $160K
A Virginia attorney who reportedly stole from his law firm was sentenced Tuesday to serve four months in federal prison and ordered to pay $160,647 to his former employer.
Tony Michael Hutchinson, 52, had previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the Abingdon case, WJHL reports.
Hutchinson, a bankruptcy practitioner, worked in the Bristol, Virginia, and Kingsport, Tennessee, offices of the unidentified law firm. No one else at the office handled bankruptcy cases, so Hutchinson handled the payments.
Between 2007 and 2012, he collected an additional $50 fee from clients and kept the money—which totaled $60,000—for himself, the government said.
Starting in 2013, Hutchinson had clients make full payments to him, in cash or a money order, which he didn’t deposit in law firm trust accounts or record on its books, the government said. That allegedly amounted to another $70,000.
Meanwhile Hutchinson also was accused of using a firm credit card to cover some $70,000 in filing fees that were supposed to be paid by client funds.
A Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board filing (PDF) says Hutchinson’s law license was revoked by consent. It includes an affidavit from the attorney and a copy of his plea agreement in the federal case.
An earlier Bristol Herald Courier story provides additional details.
