Recently, the Minnesota Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility filed a Petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Petiton seeks to have attorney Mark David Holt disbarred because he recently plead guilty to wire fraud. The Petition alleges that Holt diverted Four Million Dollars in client funds for his own personal use, instead of investing the funds as promised. Holt was apparently prosecuted in federal court in the United States District Court for Minnesota. Fedeal Prosecutors will take cases like this due to the higher penalties available in federal court for such crimes. The conduct alleged could constitute many various crimes including theft, theft by swindle, mail fraud, wire fraud, etc. This case serves as an example that, when the alleged loss is large (like the Four Million Dollars here) in financial crimes, the case may be prosecuted in federal court rather than state court, due to the much higher penalties available in federal court. Being charged in federal court can transform what would have been a 60 to 180 day sentence in state court to several years in prison when a defendant is charged and convicted of a financial crime (a.k.a. white collar crime) such as wire fraud, bank fraud, or embezzlement in federal court. Many attorneys and other professionals have been prosecuted in recent years in Minnesota federal court when they were allegedly responsible for large financial fraud losses. One outstanding case from recent years was Tom Petters, who allegedly defrauded investors and insurers of Billions of dollars through mail fraud, wire fraud, and other federal crimes.
If you have been charged with financial crimes, you need to make sure that you have an experienced Minnesota White Collar Defense attorney or Minnesota Financial Crimes Attorney. Max Keller at Keller Criminal Defense Attorneys has represented many people charged with Financial crimes in Minnesota State Courts and Minnesota federal court. If you want an attorney who will fight for your reputation and your freedom, call Keller Criminal Defense Attorneys now.
