Former Kentucky lawyer who stole from elderly military veterans sentenced to prison
A former Kentucky attorney accused of stealing more than $500,000 from clients has been sentenced to three years and five months in federal prison.
The sentence for James C. Worthington, 59, includes of $585,028 in restitution. Court records indicate he paid $340,000 of that before he was sentenced.
Worthington had a practice in Louisville focused on estate planning and probate law, including trust accounts for elderly military veterans, according to the court record.
He started stealing in 2017 from the accounts of living clients and the beneficiaries of clients who had died, according to a sentencing memorandum from Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Worthington’s attorney, John H. Harralson, III , said in a sentencing memo that major depression and anxiety disorders played a role in Worthington’s criminal conduct.
Worthington “spiraled into feelings of failure and hopelessness, self medicated with compulsive spending” and then stole from his clients under the delusion that he was taking advances on fees and could repay the money, according to the memo.
Harralson said Worthington, who has been disbarred and is working in retail, has shown extraordinary contrition, is dealing with his mental-health issues and intends to fully repay his victims.
He requested probation for Worthington.
Weiser, however, sought a sentence of 41 months, saying that over a period of years, Worthington stole from vulnerable, elderly military veterans and then when they died, stole from their beneficiaries.
The prosecutor said that in an effort to conceal the embezzlement, Worthington sometimes refused to provide bank records to people and filed false documents in court.
“The nature and circumstances of Worthington’s offenses are appalling,” Weiser wrote.
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson III sentenced Worthington Feb. 12 in Louisville.
