Judge blasts disbarred lawyer for paying no restitution in $837K client fraud, gives her 4-year max
A disbarred Iowa lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum prison term for wire fraud by a federal judge who expressed “extreme disappointment” that Susan Hense has so far paid nothing toward restitution for more than one dozen victims.
That amounts to over four years behind bars for Susan Hense, 54, who admittedly stole her clients’ money, gambled away at least some of it, and agreed to pay $837,011 in restitution as part of a plea deal earlier this year, according to the Gazette and U.S. Attorney’s office press release published by Vinton Today.
During the hearing, Hense apologized, saying that there are “no words to describe how sorry I am. On a daily basis, I’m heartbrokenly sorry for my clients.”
Although Hense was disbarred several years ago, “We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the area … I can’t believe she couldn’t do something to pay a nickel for the restitution,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Linda Reade at the hearing.
The amount of restitution ordered Tuesday by Reade was a little over $860,000.
Hense had promised the 14 clients to hold money in her trust account, but in fact used it for gambling and other personal expenses, the Gazette says.
Ex-client Brad Huff told the newspaper at the time of Hense’s October plea that the lawyer not only stole $79,000 from his mother’s estate but charged $3,000 in legal fees for doing so. He said after her sentencing that he knew Hense was not likely to get more time than she did but wondered why lawyers aren’t bonded to prevent clients from suffering such losses.
Theft charges against Hense are still pending in Tama County District Court and Reade said she hoped that Hense’s sentence, if she is convicted in that case, would run consecutively to her federal sentence for wire fraud
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Disbarred lawyer takes plea in federal wire-fraud case, agrees to pay $837K restitution”
