June 9, 2006 - United States Attorney Patrick L. Meehan today announced that a 24 count indictment* was filed charging MICHAEL D. KASPRENSKI with felony violations including nine counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud and three counts of filing false federal income tax returns.
The defendant MICHAEL D. KASPRENSKI was an attorney in Allentown, Pennsylvania who operated the Kasprenski Law Office located at 2310 Walbert Avenue, Suite 103, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The charges arise between October 2002 and February 2006 from KASPRENSKI representing various decedent estates in Berks County and Lehigh County, and embezzling money from the estates totaling over $1.5 million dollars.
“He saw an opportunity to profit from someone else’s pain,” said
Meehan. “Instead of representing the interests of his clients during
difficult times, he exploited their anguish and their vulnerability and built
a vacation home.”
Counts one through nine charge KASPRENSKI with a mail fraud scheme in which
he defrauded decedent estate clients by forging names on documents which he
submitted to financial institutions and investment firms. The indictment alleges
that KASPRENSKI used the mail to devise a scheme to defraud various individuals
who were clients of defendant MICHAEL D. KASPRENSKI, and to obtain money and
property by means of false and fraudulent
pretenses, representations and promises.
Counts ten through twenty charge KASPRENSKI with a wire fraud scheme in which
he defrauded decedent estate clients by forging names on documents which he
submitted to financial institutions and investment firms. In addition to decedent
estate clients, the indictment alleges that KASPRENSKI also defrauded various
real estate transaction clients. The indictment further alleges that KASPRENSKI
used client funds without their authorization and had those funds wired to
his attorney IOLTA account, which he then used for his personal use and benefit.
Count twenty-one charges KASPRENSKI with bank fraud. The indictment alleges that on or about January 27, 2006, KASPRENSKI wrote a check on an American Bank account which he knew was closed and cashed the check at Lafayette Ambassador Bank.
Counts twenty-two through twenty-four charge KASPRENSKI with filing a false federal income tax return for calendar years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
The government is also seeking to forfeit from the defendant the sum of $1,362,787.20 and real estate owned as a vacation home by the defendant located in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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DEFENDANT |
ADDRESS |
AGE [Date of Birth] |
|
MICHAEL D. KASPRENSKI |
Allentown, PA |
43 years |
If convicted on all of the charges, defendant KASPRENSKI faces a possible maximum sentence of 439 years imprisonment, a $ 6,300,000 fine, 5 years supervised release and a $2,400 special assessment.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Allentown Resident Office) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Seth Weber.
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UNITED
STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE EASTERN DISTRICT, PENNSYLVANIA Suite 1250, 615 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 |
Contact: RICH MANIERI Media Contact 215.861.8525 |
*An Indictment or Information is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Benjamin Franklin Photo by B. Krist for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation