Lawyer to Plead Guilty to Losing $2M Due Clients on Bad Stock Trades

A California lawyer has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he lost more than $2 million in settlement money after investing it in bad stock market trades.

Sandeep Baweja will plead guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of justice, prosecutors told the San Jose Mercury News. He could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, but is likely to receive a lower sentence, his lawyer told the Orange County Register.

Prosecutors claim Baweja lost the money after obtaining a $3.5 million class action settlement, $2.5 million of which was to be paid to the plaintiffs, employees of ZipRealty Inc. Instead, Baweja allegedly put the money in a trading account. Baweja was “an admitted novice at stock investments,” the Register says, but he “nevertheless decided to play the market in the midst of its 2008 summer free fall.”

After claimaints began asking about their settlement money, Baweja reported he had lost it.

Baweja was active in political and professional activities and served as field coordinator for the 2000 Al Gore campaign in Seattle.