Despite his apology for making bad choices during "a time of great pain for me," Little Rock attorney Matthew Mahlon Henry was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum recommended sentence of just under three years in federal prison for stealing $440,658.09 from two clients.
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. sided with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris in sentencing Henry, 45, who has been a licensed attorney for more than 13 years, to 33 months in prison on a wire-fraud charge.
Federal sentencing guidelines suggested a penalty range of 27 to 33 months for Henry, who in September admitted incrementally taking $415,658.09 from a client's trust account between August 2015 and January 2018, and also siphoning $25,000 out of an account he maintained for a business client, CSI Renovations.
The first client, who wasn't named in court, hired Henry in February 2015 to perform probate work after his parents died overseas.
Explaining how the client's inheritance was amassed, Harris said, "[The client's] parents were able to save over a lifetime of hard work and frugal living" only to have it stolen by the attorney he entrusted to obtain the money for him.
Harris said that Henry made about 200 withdrawals ranging from $500 to $5,000 apiece to gradually deplete the man's trust account, engaging in "a string of excuses, delays and lies" to carry out his scheme. The money was taken through a series of wire transfers from the client's account to Henry's business account, which was then used to pay for his business and personal expenses, according to court documents.
The client didn't receive any of the estate funds, according to court documents. They show that after the client retained another attorney, Henry sent an email last Feb. 23 to the new attorney, saying he would deliver $403,658.09 that he owed the client within three days. He attached a fake email chain indicating he had asked an Arvest Bank official to prepare a certified check in that amount from the trust account, the documents said, but in reality, the trust account had a balance of only $6.59 on Feb. 26, and none of the money was ever paid.
Henry's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, asked Marshall to sentence Henry within the guideline range, conceding that "incarceration is inevitable."
Henry also addressed the court, saying that in an effort to explain how he ended up before Marshall, but not to make excuses, "I made these choices in a time of great pain for me and I essentially lost my mind, lost my bearings. ... I've not led a life of theft and dereliction and treachery, but for some reason, I engaged in that. ... I'm incredibly sorry for those choices and the pain I caused to the victims and my chosen profession."
Pointing out the presence of Stark Ligon, the executive director of the Arkansas Supreme Court Office on Professional Conduct, in the courtroom, Marshall asked about the status of Henry's law license.
Rosenzweig replied that Henry "has indicated a desire to surrender" the license voluntarily, but said they were "working on the wording" of that effort.
In any event, Rosenzweig said, Henry's license has been suspended "since all this came up" and he hasn't been practicing law.
Henry was jailed for several months last year by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce for contempt of court after he failed to turn over the $25,000 he owed his other client, the construction company, and provide an accounting of his lawyer trust account.
Police and prosecutors said Henry stole the money from Texas building contractor Chris Irving, who hired Henry to represent Irving's company, CSI Renovations, and gave Henry the money to put up for a work bond for a job he had in Fairfield Bay.
Two months later, Henry began to claim the money was owed to him for the work he'd done for Irving. He then sued Irving in December 2017, representing to the court that he had actual possession of the money and wanted the court to hold the money in its registry before deciding how to disburse it. Pierce later dismissed the lawsuit and gave Henry 24 hours to turn the money over to Irving's attorney, Tre Kitchens. After Henry didn't comply, he was ultimately jailed.
In imposing Henry's sentence for wire fraud, Marshall noted that if it weren't for the jail time Henry had already served on the contempt finding, he "would consider even a lengthier sentence" than that recommended by the guidelines.
He noted that "a lot of us in this room are lawyers, and people come to us in the most challenging moments of their lives," expecting to be protected.
"This was not one bad decision, or two. It was a pattern of conduct over an extended period of time, and that weighs in the court's mind," Marshall said.
Attorneys entrusted with someone else's money, he said, "have to be above reproach. You act for those who are depending on you."
Hinting at the possible origin of Henry's troubles, as apparently spelled out in a confidential presentence report, Marshall said he would recommend that Henry participate in a residential drug-abuse program while he is in prison because, "as you know, more than I do, that has been part of your challenges."
Marshall also recommended that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons require Henry to participate in mental-health counseling.
Henry's sentence requires him to make full restitution to both victims, with 50 percent of the funds available to him during his incarceration being divided equally between them. Once out of prison, 10 percent of his gross income is to be divided between the two victims until the entire amount is paid.
Ligon told the judge that the Arkansas Supreme Court has a client security fund, supplied by part of the annual license renewal fees attorneys pay to the state, to which both victims have applied. He said the committee over the fund will decide in June whether to reimburse either victim, up to a maximum of $40,000. If the victims are paid by the fund, he said, the state would prefer that any additional restitution payments made by Henry go first to paying the remaining restitution before reimbursing the fund.
As the hearing concluded, Marshall leaned forward and asked Henry, "Are you going to do your best to make this right?"
Henry replied, "I will, your honor."
"OK," Marshall said. "People are depending on you. Don't let them down."
Metro on 02/21/2019