Southern California attorney faces disbarment for misappropriating $5M in funds
An attorney from Alhambra is set to be disbarred after misappropriating nearly $5 million and falsifying bank records.
According to the State Bar of California, Evie Pei Jeang entered a no contest plea related to her case regarding the misappropriation of funds, which is considered to be “an admission of culpability” based on a stipulation that recommends her disbarment.
“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,” Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said in a statement.
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Jeang admitted that between September 2015 and May 2017, she “did not properly maintain” $4.8 million in a client trust account as required by a court order issued in August 2015.
“Instead of properly disbursing the funds to the two relevant parties, paying capital gains taxes, attorneys fees and other legally required costs, she used much of the funds for personal use and other purposes, all unrelated to the dissolution matter,” the State Bar of California said. “This included cash withdrawals of over $500,000 and more than $240,000 in credit card payments.”
“Subsequently, for nearly five years, Jeang misled her client, the opposing party and the court regarding the status of the money, attempting to conceal the misappropriation by producing fabricated bank documents to opposing counsel and to the court purporting to show that she had maintained the funds in her account as required when she had already misappropriated nearly all the funds,” the State Bar added.
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After a March 2022 court order requesting a new attorney for Jeang’s client, Jeang’s bank sent just under $2 million from her trust account to the new attorney, and a week after the receiving the funds, the new attorney filed a complaint with the State Bar upon learning of Jeang’s false claims that there was $3.9 million in the trust account.
The parties are still owed nearly $2.5 million, the State Bar noted.
Jeang’s disbarment recommendation will now go to the California Supreme Court for a final ruling.
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