Friday, February 25, 2011

Vann Leonard pleads guilty.

Attorney Vann Leonard pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to one count of embezzling from a bankruptcy estate. Mr. Leonard will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum term of five years in prison. Mr. Leonard is accused in a civil lawsuit filed in Madison Circuit Court of stealing the proceeds from a life insurance policy that should have gone to a widow. Trustmark filed a Substitute of Trustee notice in the Madison County Chancery Clerk's office and is about to initiate foreclosure proceedings against Mr. Leonard's home.

Mr. Leonard stole $327,585 from the estate of Shirley Douglas. Ms. Douglas retained Jackson attorney Richard Schwartz after suffering injuries in an automobile collision. Ms. Douglas filed bankruptcy before Mr. Schwartz obtained a $500,000 settlement for her. Mr. Schwartz hired Mr. Leonard to deposit the settlement in the bankruptcy estate and approve payment of his $172,414 fee out of the estate. The judge approved payment to Schwartz. Ms. Douglas and the bankruptcy trustee sued Mr. Leonard and alleged he "stole" the remaining funds. Ms. Douglas claims the settlement would have paid off her debts. Instead of enjoying some financial freedom, Ms. Douglas's wages are garnished every two weeks due to her bankruptcy.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

No comments?

Anonymous said...

well, makes me ashamed to be a lawyer; too bad rich isn't.

Anonymous said...

Leonard will get to go on a vacation in a Federal minimum security prison, funded by the taxpayers.

At Club-Fed, he will have time to read all of the books he has wanted to read, exercise daily, have the wife (if he has one) make the effort to come to him in preparation for conjugal visits, and just live the good life without responsibilities for a while.

If only white-collar criminals were sentenced time in maximum security prisons, then the victims could take pleasure in knowing that Leonard, Scruggs, Ebbers, and the like, were somebody else's bitch for once. I'm sure a rich, pompous, white man that made his fortune from figuratively f-ing people up the ass, would be quite popular in literally receiving the same.

Anonymous said...

What Leonard did was reprehensible. An attorney's first focus should always be to represent and put his client's interests first. However a few points.

As an attorney, 99.999% of the attorneys I know are honest hardworking professionals. Even the plaintiff attorneys I encounter on the other side, by and large, are honorable people. Most of my personal difficulty with the plaintiffs' bar is usually having to deal with a very well known core of clearly incompetent lawyers in the Jackson area, who simply don't know what they are doing. In certain cases, although barred by ethical rules, I have been tempted to contact their clients and advise them of their lawyer's malpractice that resulted in the loss of their cases. That is the real problem, as opposed to the isolated crooks. Poor and unsophisticated clients being poorly (or barely)represented because they had the misfortune to hire someone who should not be practicing. The courts and judges are well aware of who these attorneys are, but refuse to crack down on them, for a variety of reasons. You then get the very small percentage of genuinely dishonest lawyers, which I imagine, is about the same percentage of dishonest plumbers, contractors, car salesmen, etc.

However, since I've wandered off-point, let me get back on track. I have no first hand knowledge of the Leonard issue, and the clients who have been hurt have my sympathy, especially since I doubt there are still any assets remaining to make them whole. My reading of the articles on the Leonard case is that this was a guy who was having financial problems and thought he could "temporarily" (illegally) "borrow" (steal) from the client trust account and of course, it all fell apart. I have been told by people that Leonard has had fairly serious health issues in recent years.

Leonard deserves to go to jail. What he did was wrong and he hurt people, not excluding his own family. However, this is not a master criminal, but instead, just a dishonest and hapless bozo.

Lastly, the people harping about "Club Fed" obviously have no experience with the reality of federal prison. In addition, jokes about prison rape are appalling. It is a serious and horrifying problem. When people get sentenced under our system, the court sentences them to a term behind bars. Regardless of the severity of the crime they have committed, our system does not sentence people to be gang raped.

Anonymous said...

federal prisons aren't nearly as tough as Unit 29, however, its a myth that its "club fed". I've never dealt with anyone that enjoyed their stay in a federal prison. inmates are required to work. there is minimal recreation. there are no conjugal visits. even minor RVRs result in movement to a higher security prison. you sound like a bitter loser.

Anonymous said...

You would think "One Call, That's All" would return the money he took off the top back to the woman who is a true victim in all this mess.
Nah, he couldn't bring himself to do the right thing, I bet.

Anonymous said...

6:33, I agree with your comments about the profession and the failure of judges to exercise their authority.
I think the years where the MS Bar Exam was designed to keep out competition rather than assure competence remains with us as well.
But,in the end, I suspect politics and the reluctance to act against friends,relatives , neighbors , and members of your church or club where nearly everyone is a friend ,relative, neighbor or member of your church or club is also a problem.
We don't like to upset our social apple carts. We don't want to admit that some of the apples in the cart are rotten for fear all the apples will be seen as bad.

Anonymous said...

Why aren't there any criminal charges in the life insurance case?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps because there is insufficient evidence to establish that there was a crime. A civil suit only requires that a filing fee be paid, in order to file it. If it was a meritorious claim, I imagine we would now be hearing more about it.

Anonymous said...

Just found this site. I was clipped by him also. Bad stuff. I have no recourse. Just a bad judgement of character.

Anonymous said...

7:39 PM welcome to lawyerin' in Missassipi...they do not take the time to police themselves, only here will you find the most egregious violations, because, you know, the Bar isn't going to do the right thing, nor is the legal community at large...its expected, they have to eat too.

I swear, the legal community is inviting Federal investigation for the egregious use of state criminal law to further civil ends.

Anonymous said...

Oh, if anyone is listening...

I could give you a prime example with multiple violations and attorneys willing to share (off the record of course) specific examples. Send KF an email. He's trustworthy.

Anonymous said...

He got me also. No as much money, but it is the principal of it besides the undue hardship it brings on the victims that were trying to do the correct actions that good people do.

Unknown said...

Does anyone know when he will be sentenced?

Anonymous said...

Sentencing is scheduled for some time in July.

Anonymous said...

He is going to be (Most likely) let out in March of 2016

Anonymous said...

11:20 you have posted this a couple of places, I see. How do you know?


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