Matson’s great facet apart, Gibney reported the case was not just about a easy theft.
“It’s a theft done by an officer of the court docket though acting as an officer of the courtroom,” he said.
“He stole $4 million,” Gibney said. The judge advised Matson he was lucky he had superior lawyers who ended up capable to get a plea deal with the federal government in which he was not subject matter to forfeiting yet another $4 million.
“People who steal need to acquire a lesson from this situation,” the choose additional.
Matson’s criminal offense stemmed from his tries to thwart an investigation into his fraud when a court docket-appointed trustee in the personal bankruptcy of the LandAmerica Economical Team. A federal investigation into those people allegations uncovered cases of Matson’s embezzlement from the personal bankruptcy have faith in concerning 2015 and 2018, of roughly $800,000.
Matson also manipulated the spending budget of the write-up-personal bankruptcy wind-down so that he could divert cash to himself and many others soon after the shut of the LandAmerica bankruptcy, when he would no for a longer time be topic to scrutiny by collectors and the personal bankruptcy courtroom, and was in a position to siphon absent extra than $3.2 million for private payments to himself and many others.
The dollars, even so, was place into accounts managed by Matson and not spent, enabling Matson to return it, Brandon Michael Santos, one particular of Matson’s lawyers, explained to Gibney on Monday. On Monday and in court papers submitted before, Matson’s legal professionals cited the drop of his now-defunct previous law agency, LeClairRyan relatives pressures involving a sibling and her son and other troubles all pressuring Matson at the time of the misconduct.