A previous particular-damage lawyer who stole millions of dollars from clients’ settlements just before fleeing to Costa Rica was sentenced Thursday in federal court docket in Los Angeles to 12 decades in prison.
Philip James Layfield, 48, aka Philip Samuel Pesin, was uncovered responsible in August on 23 rates, like 19 counts of felony wire fraud, a person count of mail fraud, a single depend of tax evasion and other charges, in accordance to the U.S. attorney’s office environment in Los Angeles. Soon after the verdict, he was remanded to federal custody.
Layfield formerly owned and operated a number of regulation corporations in California, which include workplaces in Irvine, Los Angeles and El Segundo, along with Park City, Utah, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
In 2016, Layfield represented a client who was left severely injured immediately after being strike by a car in Orange County, in accordance to the U.S. attorney’s business office. Layfield negotiated a $3.9-million settlement for his shopper but stole roughly $2 million for his individual personal use and to pay out other shoppers whose settlement cash he experienced misappropriated, according to charging documents.
The shopper in the Orange County situation received only $25,000, according to federal prosecutors.
In 2016, Layfield unsuccessful to file a federal earnings tax return, even with obtaining $3 million, which incorporated settlement funds he had embezzled from consumers, authorities reported. He was also dependable for his legislation organization not paying around $121,000 in payroll taxes for the second quarter of 2017.
After he stole tens of millions from his clients’ settlement resources, Layfield moved to Coto de Caza in Costa Rica. Prior to he fled, he used for a $700,000 loan from a small business loan provider with deceptive information, according to federal prosecutors who detailed Layfield’s crimes all through a 13-day demo final year.
Layfield utilised the bulk of the money from the financial loan for own fees, which includes paying for a horse and then shipping and delivery other horses to Costa Rica, authorities mentioned. He was arrested in New Jersey in 2018 immediately after he returned to the United States and was disbarred in California later that year.