Lawyer Sentenced, Accused of Giving Client’s Money to Drug Cartel
A Pennsylvania lawyer accused of refusing to return a client’s money because he gave it to a drug cartel has been sentenced to two to four years in prison.
A 2006 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer described the West Chester lawyer, Daniel McCaughan, as a flamboyant person known for quoting Shakespeare. But a taped conversation cited by police revealed another side.
McCaughan was sentenced yesterday to the prison term of up to four years along with three years of probation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. He had been accused of asking the mother of drug defendant Christopher Joseph Stansberry to give him $20,000 so the “feds don’t seize it.”
In a taped conversation, McCaughan allegedly told Stansberry’s mother he didn’t put the money in escrow as promised, according to the 2006 story in the Inquirer. Instead, he reportedly said he gave the money to a drug cartel run by a man named “Omar.”
“I work for Omar, just like Chris works for Omar,” the transcript said. “Look, they’re drug dealers. They carry guns. They don’t care. They’re all hooked up in these gangs. … I’m terrified of Omar and that whole bunch.”
