Former Norman Attorney to Serve 30 Months in Prison for Defrauding Clients

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Today, DANE THOMAS WILSON, 61, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy D. DeGuisti to serve 30 months in federal prison for using a wire fraud scheme to embezzle from the clients of his law practice and also for failing to file a tax return, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.  

Wilson was charged by Information and pled guilty on February 24, 2016.  Wilson admitted that from December 2010 through December 31, 2011, while he was a licensed attorney practicing in Norman, Oklahoma, he defrauded his clients by misappropriating funds that he received on their behalf from insurance companies and other payors.  Wilson admitted that he deposited the funds he received for the benefit of his clients into a client trust account, and then wrote checks to himself, made cash withdrawals, or transferred money from the client trust account in amounts that exceeded the attorney’s fees that he was contractually entitled to receive from each client.  He admitted that, as a result of his actions, some of his clients received no money or less money than they were due from the settlements or judgments he obtained on their behalf.  Specifically, Wilson admitted that he caused First American Bank in Oklahoma to use interstate wire communications with the bank’s processor in Texas to withdraw $40,000 from his client trust account.  He admitted that this money was fraudulently misappropriated from insurance settlement funds that rightfully belonged to Wilson’s client, R.F.

Wilson also admitted that he knowingly and willfully failed to file a federal income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for the tax year of 2011.

A hearing will take place in January 2017 to determine the total amount of restitution that Wilson will be required pay to his former clients and to the IRS.

This case was investigated by the Norman Police Department, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and IRS-Criminal Investigations.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Maxfield Green.