Felony Justice
Former BigLaw legal professional pleads responsible to stealing from property
Picture from Shutterstock.
A suspended Memphis, Tennessee, lawyer has pleaded responsible to 1 depend of wire fraud for stealing $124,000 from the property of a former consumer.
Leigh M. Chiles, 49, of Little Rock, Arkansas, pleaded responsible Friday, in response to Law360 and a March 17 press release.
Chiles was previously a lawyer with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. The legislation agency instructed Law360 that Chiles is now not with the agency and was not working there on the time of the crime.
“These issues don’t relate to or contain our agency in any manner,” a spokesperson instructed Law360.
Chiles had labored at Baker Donelson by means of no less than November 2017, in response to Law360, which cited info from the Baker Donelson web site. She was suspended from apply in July 2018.
Whereas at Baker Donelson, Chiles targeted on litigation below the Worker Retirement Revenue Safety Act, in response to the Memphis Daily News. The article stated Chiles was a shareholder on the agency, which she had joined in 2005.
The July 2022 indictment alleges that Chiles stole from the property of John Paul Mummert after she was appointed executrix in September 2018. Chiles had ready Mummert’s will earlier than his dying.
Chiles was accused of embezzling from the property by writing checks to herself or through the use of property cash to pay her private bank card and a second bank card for a enterprise during which she was an investor. The plea agreement requires restitution.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 17.