(WFRV) – A woman from Reedsburg was sentenced to over three years in prison after stealing over a million dollars from a client’s trust accounts.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, 61-year-old Kristin Lein was sentenced to 45 months in prison for multiple crimes including wire fraud and money laundering. Lein pleaded guilty to the charges back in June.
The investigation reportedly showed that Lein, who is a licensed attorney in Wisconsin, engaged in a fraud scheme. She allegedly stole $1,643,818 from a client’s trust accounts.
In June 2019, she reportedly started transferring money from accounts belonging to the client’s trust to her own personal bank account. Then during a phone call, she and the beneficiary of the trust reportedly talked about financial matters.
Lein reportedly told the beneficiary that the trust balance was over $1.8 million. However, the actual amount was reportedly less due to her alleged embezzlement.
The funds were eventually depleted in September 2022 according to officials. Officials say that Lein used the funds to pay personal expenses.
The expenses reportedly included:
- Improvements to her house
- Buying multiple vehicles
- 2019 F-250 pickup truck
- 2017 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck
- 2020 Mahinda tractor
The charges against Lein were the result of an investigation done by IRS Criminal Investigation. No additional information was provided.
