Ex-chief legal officer of law firm LeClairRyan gets 44 months in prison - Reuters
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(Reuters) - Bruce Matson, the former chief legal officer at now-defunct law firm LeClairRyan, has been sentenced to 44 months in prison after pleading guilty in July to obstructing a federal probe, the Justice Department said Monday.
U.S. District Judge John Gibney of the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond also ordered Matson, 64, to pay a $10,000 fine, according to the DOJ.
Matson was accused of lying to a DOJ watchdog that was probing his alleged misappropriation of funds from title insurer LandAmerica Financial Group's bankruptcy.
Prosecutors had requested 46 months in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Matson's attorneys requested a 37-month sentence.
Richard Cullen and Brandon Santos, McGuireWoods attorneys representing Matson, did not immediately return requests for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.
LandAmerica, one of the largest title insurance groups in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2008.
Matson, was assigned the role of liquidation trustee for the company's remaining assets while at LeClairRyan. He was found to have embezzled approximately $800,000 from the trust between 2015 and 2018, and misappropriated a total of $4 million, according to court papers.
According to prosecutors, in 2019 Matson lied to the U.S. Trustee probing the depleted trust funds, telling them he moved the funds because of high bank fees and tax identification issues. Matson agreed to disbarment in November 2020.
On Friday, Matson submitted 51 letters of support from family, friends and colleagues to Gibney. His lawyers in their argument for a shorter sentence said Matson experienced a "tremendous fall from grace," and had been a respected bankruptcy attorney for more than three decades.
Matson's former firm, Richmond-headquartered LeClairRyan filed for Chapter 11 protection in September 2019, after decreasing revenues and a spate of partner departures.
The case is United States v. Matson, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, No. 21-cr-00079.
For the United States: Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Garnett and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Martin and Kevin Elliker
For Matson: Brandon Santos and Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods; and Danny Onorato of Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears
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source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ex-chief-legal-officer-law-firm-leclairryan-gets-44-months-prison-2021-11-22/
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