Ex-Biglaw Paralegal Who Embezzled More Than $600K From Firm Gets Prison Time
She used the money to pay her credit card, mortgage, and student loan bills.
An ex-Biglaw paralegal was indicted in 2022 for stealing more than $600,000 from the Am Law 200 firm where she worked, and earlier this week, she was sentenced for her six-figure financial heist.
Becky Louise Sutton, formerly of Saul Ewing’s Chicago office, was accused of transferring bankruptcy estate funds meant for creditors to her own accounts. She did this from 2009 to 2018, taking a total of $682,980. According to the indictment, Sutton used the money to pay credit card bills, mortgage bills, and student loan bills, also setting some cash aside in her personal bank account and a PayPal account.
After reversing her original not-guilty plea, Sutton pleaded guilty in late 2023 to one count of wire fraud. On Tuesday, she was sentenced to two years in prison. Reuters has additional details:
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U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago also ordered Becky Louise Sutton, 67, to pay $611,263 in restitution. A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed the sentence but did not comment further.
Gal Pissetzky, a Chicago lawyer who represented Sutton, said his client “apologized for her actions and is very sorry for all the damage and suffering she caused. She also wants to thank the court for a very fair sentence.”
Earlier in the investigation, a Saul Ewing spokesperson said that the firm had “cooperated with law enforcement and ensured that any impacted client did not suffer any losses.”
Sutton was originally charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of embezzlement, for which she faced up to 75 years in prison.
Ex-paralegal gets 2 years in prison for embezzling law firm funds [Reuters]
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Earlier: Ex-Biglaw Paralegal Allegedly Embezzled More Than $600K From Firm
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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