Federal judge sentences disbarred Columbus attorney who pilfered clients’ money
A disbarred Columbus personal injury attorney accused of stealing clients’ settlement money was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land sentenced George W. Snipes, 68, to serve 51 months in prison and repay the money he took from two clients in a personal injury case, totaling $1,638,000, authorities said.
Snipes pleaded guilty June 23 to mail fraud, with the charge alleging Snipes mailed a Sept. 18, 2017, letter demanding the USAA Insurance Company send him settlement checks totaling $48,000 for two clients injured in an automobile accident. Neither client saw or signed the checks, and Snipes “converted the funds to his own personal use,” according to the plea document.
Other clients have alleged Snipes stole from them as well. Before federal agents began their investigation into Snipes’ conduct, Columbus police in 2018 charged him under state law with 18 counts of theft involving nine former clients, who together claimed Snipes stole more than $1.2 million from them.
In the federal mail fraud case, Snipes represented clients injured in an August 2017 car crash. They retained Snipes to represent them on a contingency fee basis to recover lost wages and medical expenses, investigators said. The next month, Snipes settled the case without telling the clients, and had the settlement checks sent to him, using the money for his own personal benefit.
Authorities said records related to Snipes’ trust accounts that held other money for clients showed a pattern of his taking funds for his own use.
Such “Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts” involve funds that accumulate interest before the money is distributed to clients or others authorized to receive it. Attorneys are banned from withdrawing those funds without permission from their clients.
From January 2017 to January 2018, Snipes’ unauthorized distributions from a trust account showed the money went to Snipes, to a rental company he owned, to Parent-Teacher Associations and to storage facilities. Snipes’ withdrawals in cash totaled $468,750, and multiple checks written to Snipes totaled $167,600, authorities said.
Doing business as “G. William Snipes, Attorney at Law,” Snipes had his own law practice since January 2012, at a 1300 Wynnton Road suite. Columbus police financial crimes detectives started investigating Snipes in January 2018, and got warrants for his arrest the following April, before federal agents took over the probe.
The Georgia Supreme Court disbarred Snipes on June 4, 2018, for violating rules of professional conduct by exceeding his authority, failing to act with reasonable diligence and collecting fees without accounting to his clients.
Having pleaded guilty in a federal case, Snipes is not expected to be prosecuted on his earlier charges.
This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 6:14 PM.