A former paralegal for a Chicago law firm has been indicted for allegedly embezzling more than $600,000 from bankruptcy estate accounts, according to a DOJ press release. Becky Louise Sutton fraudulently embezzled the funds from 2009 to 2018 while working on bankruptcy matters at the law firm, according to an indictment returned Wednesday in U.S. District in Chicago. Sutton orchestrated the fraudulent transfers of bankruptcy funds from fiduciary bank accounts intended for creditors to accounts Sutton controlled, including her personal bank account, credit card account, student loan account, and mortgage account, the indictment states. In one instance, Sutton used a company with a name similar to a true creditor to disguise her fraudulent diversion of the funds, the indictment states. The indictment charges Sutton with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of embezzlement from the estate of a debtor. The indictment seeks forfeiture from Sutton of $611,263 in alleged criminally derived proceeds. Arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.
