Los Angeles attorney faces up to 8 years for allegedly embezzling $4.8 million from client
A Los Angeles divorce attorney faces up to eight years in prison after being charged with allegedly embezzling about $4.8 million in client funds, prosecutors said Thursday.
Evie Jeang is accused of embezzling the millions of dollars from a client trust account, funds that were to be distributed to her client and his then-wife, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. But she allegedly stole the money between September 2015 and May 2017 and filed a false bank statement to cover it up.
Jeang, 47, has been charged with four felony counts, including grand theft, grand theft by embezzlement, preparing false documentary evidence and perjury by declaration. The charges also include a special sentencing enhancement of aggravated white-collar crime.
According to prosecutors, Jeang represented her client in a divorce case in Los Angeles County Superior Court between 2015 and 2021, and she allegedly stole the money between the dates of Sept. 25, 2015 and May 8, 2017.
More than four years later, prosecutors allege, she prepared the false bank statement on or around Nov. 2, 2021.
Prosecutors said Thursday that she is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail and that her arraignment will be scheduled at a later date.
Jeang faces up to eight years in state prison if convicted of all charges filed, according to prosecutors.
The DA's office released no other details about the case.
The State Bar of California placed Jeang on inactive status after she pleaded no contest to disciplinary charges related to the case. The Bar considered the plea an admission of culpability under the stipulation approved by the court in 2022.
Officials said she admitted to falsifying bank records and making false statements to the court to hide her misconduct.
"Jeang's conduct caused significant harm not only to the parties, including her client, whose funds she misappropriated, but also to the court, which, along with the parties, had to expend significant resources to untangle the fraud perpetrated by Jeang through her disregard of court orders and her misrepresentations to the parties and the court," said Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona.
According to her California Bar profile, Jeang is ineligible to practice law in the state while the California Supreme Court considers her disbarment.
