Lawyer gets 14 months in case involving misuse of client funds

A former lawyer for the city of Winooski and other prominent clients has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud.

William O’Brien, 60, will have to pay close to $20,000 in restitution to trusts and estates and will have one year of supervised release after his prison time. U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha sentenced him Wednesday in Brattleboro.

According to prosecutors, O’Brien improperly removed $250,000 to $550,000 from accounts he represented.

He was a longtime lawyer whose clients included the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington and the city of Winooski. The Vermont Supreme Court issued an order suspending O’Brien’s license to practice law in January after he pleaded guilty to a felony count of mail fraud in November.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/07/20/lawyer-gets-14-months-in-case-involving-misuse-of-client-funds/