Convicted in U.S. District Court of Stealing Client Settlement Money, Cheating on Federal Income Taxes By a MetNews Staff Writer Philip James Layfield, a disbarred personal-injury attorney, was convicted on Friday by a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California of 22 felonies based on stealing most of a $3.9 million settlement of a personal injury claim, as well as federal income tax evasion. After a 13-day trial in the courtroom of Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, Layfield was found guilty of 19 counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of tax evasion, one count of failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes, and one misdemeanor charge of failure to file a tax return. Layfield, 48, was remanded into federal custody. As federal investigators closed in on him in 2017, Layfield fled to Costa Rica in June of that year. Before getting on a flight to that Central American country, Layfield borrowed $700,000 from a business lender by providing misleading information and failing to disclose material information. He used substantial portions of the loan proceeds for personal expenses, including buying a horse and shipping horses to Costa Rica. Initial Focus The prosecution began in connection with Layfield having pocketed settlement funds. Josephine Nguyen, a client of Layfield & Barrett (now dissolved), was to receive 60 percent, or $2.3 million, of the $3.9 million settlement of her personal injury claim based on an automobile...
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