Horrible Story Famous Utah elder care lawyer plunders Alzheimers patient

Crushed

IM posting this right now I will come back with advice later
The lawyer was very well known in the disability law community  
Its equivalent to Berni Madoff

From Newsweek

Utah attorney is accused of embezzling more than $9.5 million from clients over the past decade to fund his "lavish lifestyle," prosecutors said.

Calvin Curtis, 61, a Salt Lake City estate attorney, is facing federal charges in the defrauding of clients from January 2008 to July 2021. Prosecutors allege that Curtis lied to clients and misrepresented information to divert money from their trusts for his personal use.

The attorney specializes in elder law, special-needs trusts, and estate planning for seniors and for families with a relative with a disability, according to his LinkedIn page.

According to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Curtis allegedly sold $9.2 million in real estate, but only gave the client $7.5 million while keeping $1.7 million for himself.

Prosecutors added that on at least three other occasions, Curtis created fake statements and provided them to Stagg Fiduciary Services, the client's court-appointed conservator. The statements provided a "false accounting for her trust," but court documents allege that Curtis was really transferring the money into his personal account or the account of his law firm.

  https://www.newsweek.com/utah-elder-law-attorney-charged-embezzlement-95-million-fund-lavish-lifestyle-1648893 

 

FOX 13 Investigates: SLC attorney confesses to embezzling millions from family of famous skier

Alzheimer's patient Glenn McConkey, the mother of famous skier Shane McConkey, is among the 23 victims
ALT LAKE CITY — The FOX 13 Investigates team has learned a prominent Salt Lake City attorney has confessed to embezzling millions of dollars from clients over the past 13 years.

Most of the stolen money belongs to Glenn McConkey, an elderly woman with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.  She is the mother of famous extreme skier Shane McConkey.

Although some of Shane McConkey's assets went to his mother, Glenn McConkey, she was also independently wealthy......

Glenn McConkey hired prominent Salt Lake City attorney Calvin Curtis to handle her estate.

Curtis advertised himself as a champion for people who are incapacitated. Attorneys say he was widely respected in Utah's legal community."Cal was always considered to be one of the most upstanding members of the estate planning and elder law community," Gray said. "I also have an expertise in estate planning and elder law... I sought advice from him over the years. He’s taught many classes, some of which I’ve attended."

Glenn McConkey, through her attorney, disinherited her own granddaughter.

Ayla McConkey was just 10 years old at the time.

Instead, Curtis was named as the trustee.

"(Ayla) is Glenn's only living relative, and they were very close," Gray said. "He has taken advantage of an old woman who has Alzheimer’s and ripped her off, took all of her money, and left her granddaughter — her only living relative — without the inheritance that she was supposed to get... I think Cal Curtis thought he had the perfect crime because he thought he had the perfect victim." Glenn McConkey is now in a memory unit, requiring 24/7 care for Alzheimer's disease.   Gray said, at first, she thought Curtis might have simply mismanaged Glenn McConkey's money. The family later learned that the funds were outright stolen.

In October, Curtis was ordered to pay back $12,101,362.20 of stolen money to Glenn McConkey.  Curtis has confessed to multiple federal crimes taking place between 2008 and 2021, including wire fraud and money laundering.

According to documents filed in United States District Court, he "used proceeds to support a lavish lifestyle with frequent travel, to purchase tickets to basketball and football games, to give lavish gifts to others, and to support the operations of his law firm... CURTIS diverted funds through fraudulent means from at least 22 other trusts as well."