{"id":12076,"date":"2015-05-18T12:11:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T19:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076"},"modified":"2015-05-18T12:11:19","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T19:11:19","slug":"lawyer-who-stole-more-than-2-million-from-clients-sentenced-to-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer Who Stole More than $2 Million from Clients Sentenced to Five Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0ATLANTA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Mike<\/a>
Michael Rene Berlon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A federal judge sentenced former Gwinnett County, Georgia, lawyer Michael Rene Berlon<\/strong> to five years and three months in prison for stealing more than $2 million from clients of his former law firm and using it for his own benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant was a respected member of the community and held an important position of trust. Where most lawyers conscientiously live up to this trust, Berlon instead violated it by stealing large sums from his clients for his personal gain with little regard for how it affected those who trusted him with their money,\u201d said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of his plea agreement, Berlon, 55, agreed to pay restitution of more than $2 million to fifteen different individuals, officials stated.<\/p>\n

Berlon, who once served as the Georgia Democratic Party chairman, was convicted of wire fraud after pleading guilty on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

This is the evidence presented in court:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Berlon was a solo practitioner in Grayson, Georgia, and the owner of the Law Office of Michael R. Berlon.<\/li>\n
  • Over the course of nearly six years, from 2008 to 2014, Berlon obtained more than $2 million in client funds.<\/li>\n
  • He told clients that he would hold the funds in a trust for safe-keeping, or that he would use the funds to resolve a financial or legal problem on the client\u2019s behalf.<\/li>\n
  • Instead, Berlon used the funds for his own benefit, including making personal purchases and paying travel expenses, and, in some instances, repaying other clients.<\/li>\n
  • In one instance, Berlon obtained money from two people who were looking for his assistance with starting a new business.\u00a0Berlon told the victims that he would help them get a loan, but that they had to provide a percentage of the requested loan amount as a down payment.<\/li>\n
  • Berlon used the money for his personal expenses and debts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    This case was investigated by the FBI.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0ATLANTA A federal judge sentenced former Gwinnett County, Georgia, lawyer Michael Rene Berlon to five years and three months in prison for stealing more than $2 million from clients of his former…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[663],"class_list":["post-12076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-lawyer"],"yoast_head":"\nLawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Lawyer Who Stole More than $2 Million from Clients Sentenced to Five Years\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076\"},\"wordCount\":331,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/Mike-Berlon.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lawyer\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076\",\"name\":\"Lawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/Mike-Berlon.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=12076#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/Mike-Berlon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/Mike-Berlon.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients","description":"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients","og_description":"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Lawyer Who Stole More than $2 Million from Clients Sentenced to Five Years","datePublished":"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076"},"wordCount":331,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg","keywords":["Lawyer"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076","name":"Lawyer Stole More Than $2 Million from Clients","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-18T19:11:19+00:00","description":"Lawyer who stole more than $2 million from clients sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12076#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Mike-Berlon.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12080,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12076\/revisions\/12080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}