SALT LAKE CITY, Utah.- Calvin Curtis, a Salt Lake attorney who embezzled nearly $13 million from his clients, most of them disabled, could face up to six years in prison for his crimes.
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Federal prosecutors charged Curtis, 61, with money laundering and embezzlement to the detriment of 24 clients. Curtis admitted that he stole nearly $13 million from people who trusted him and pleaded guilty in November.
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Both prosecutors and Curtis’s defense attorney asked a federal judge to sentence him to 6 years in prison. and restitution of more than $12 million for his victims.
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“He traded it all for greed and avarice. Due to his actions, his victims have lost almost everything. Curtis not only destroyed the lives of two dozen people, but also tarnished the reputation of his profession,” Assistant State’s Attorney Ruth Hackford-Peer wrote in a memo.
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How did Calvin Curtis scam his customers?
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Calvin Curtis took advantage of his legal status to change the terms of his clients’ estate documents and appointed himself as their trustee.
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Among Curtis’s victims is the daughter of Matt Hess, a dairy farmer in Box Elder County, from whom he stole more than $260,000 from a trust they had set aside to make his home wheelchair accessible. The woman has cerebral palsy.
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Another disabled victim lost $40,000 in the same way. Prosecutors say she needed money for medical care and home repairs.
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The victim who lost the most money to Curtis is 79-year-old Glenn McConkey. “When the woman started showing signs of Alzheimer’s dementia, in 2014, the attorney appointed himself as her trustee to steal more than $10,500,000 from her from their trusts for the next several years,” prosecutor Hackford-Peer wrote.
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McConkey’s family began expressing concern for Curtis in 2018 and they are concerned there is now not enough money to pay for Glenn McConkey’s dementia care for the rest of his life.
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Curtis has been in the Salt Lake County Jail since January, when prosecutors found that he continued to use his credit cards and pay bills. expenses of his girlfriend in Florida.
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