A former paralegal for a Chicago law firm was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison diverting nearly $700,000 in creditor payments to personal accounts, which she used to make mortgage payments, buy a car and partially fund her son’s college education.
Becky Louise Sutton, 67, formerly of Park Forest, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud, admitting in a plea agreement with prosecutors that she embezzled the money over a 10-year period from more than 40 bankruptcy estate accounts and several liquidating trust accounts bankruptcy matters on which she worked.
Although the law firm was not identified in court documents, public records show it is Saul Ewing LLP, which is headquartered on North Clark Street in the Loop.
According to her plea, Sutton embezzled the funds by orchestrating fraudulent transfers of bankruptcy funds from fiduciary bank accounts intended for creditors to accounts she controlled, including her personal bank account, credit card account, student loan account, and mortgage account.
In a recent sentencing filing, prosecutors said Sutton’s theft remained undetected “until she
decided one day to just not show up for work, comfortable because she had paid off all debts, met
her family obligations, and educated her son.”
“Once she obtained the victims’ money unlawfully, she then spent it, mostly on herself or family, causing significant financial losses, a loss of reputations, as well as a loss of trust in the bankruptcy process and system,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kartik Raman wrote.
A private accounting firm then had to be brought in “to identify and account for what Sutton did,” costing the firm over $100,000, Raman said. In all, Sutton’s fraud cost the firm nearly $800,000 in losses and also forced the U.S. Trustee’s office to spend considerable time auditing the cases she was involved with to get a full accounting of the damage, according to the filing.
In a victim statement to the court, the trustee wrote that Sutton “could have easily helped short-circuit the
reconstruction process” if she had any remorse. Instead, she “sat idly by” as the trustees “worked feverishly for months in a painstaking process to uncover the nature and extent of her misconduct.”
None of the firm’s clients suffered any losses, according to court records.
In addition to the two-year prison term, U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland ordered Sutton to pay a $611,000 judgment.
In asking that Sutton be spared from prison, her attorney, Gal Pissetzky wrote she had no previous criminal history, has taken full responsibility for her wrongdoing and agreed to make full restitution “to attempt to mitigate some of the damage she caused.”
“Ms. Sutton is utterly remorseful, ashamed, and embarrassed by her actions,” Pissetzky wrote.
A representative of Saul Ewing did not immediately respond Tuesday to calls seeking comment.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com