A lawyer embezzled tens of thousands from Kansas couple -- now they may lose their home

[TexasTowelie]

When Roger and Marcia Altis’ family business didn’t quite work out as planned — especially after Roger’s first heart attack — they decided to file for bankruptcy.

Medical and other bills had piled up. The Internal Revenue Service came calling, demanding tax money.

So the Eureka couple hired a Wichita attorney who they thought would help shepherd them through the financial mess.

Instead, that attorney, Christopher O’Brien, made it worse — by stealing money meant to pay down the Altises’ debt.

O’Brien, 69, last month pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement in the case — and agreed to pay nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in restitution to the Altises and two other clients who accused him of thievery. He’s set for sentencing at the federal courthouse in Wichita on June 3, according to court records.

Read more: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article229189754.html#

[lapfog_1]

1. I had a lawyer like that

promised to get my back taxes straightened out.

took $7,000 retainer and did absolutely nothing other than meet with me for an hour.

Fortunately I refused to send him the additional money he started demanding for "research" (really all I needed was someone to talk to the IRS, explain that the rental property I had in Denver that went unrented for a year due to a bad market was NOT a vacation property... and I never visited it in that year.)