A former Chicago-based paralegal for Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that she illegally transferred funds intended for bankruptcy creditors to her own account and used them to pay off expenses such as a mortgage and student loans, Reuters reported. The indictment dated April 20 did not include the name of Becky Louise Sutton's law firm, but a spokesperson for Saul Ewing confirmed that she had worked there. "We have cooperated with law enforcement and ensured that any impacted client did not suffer any losses," the spokesperson said in an April 21 statement. In an arraignment in Chicago federal court before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez, prosecutors said Sutton is charged with multiple counts of embezzlement and wire fraud for siphoning off $682,980 from bankruptcy estate accounts. Sutton worked with a Saul Ewing partner, assisting them with chapter 7 and chapter 11 bankruptcy cases from 2009 to 2018, according to the indictment. The partner's name has not been disclosed in the filings nor by the firm. The indictment said Sutton did not pay creditors that were owed money from bankruptcy estate accounts and instead transferred the funds to credit card and personal bank accounts, paid her mortgage and student loan payments, and sent money to a PayPal account. Sutton agreed to post $5,000 for bond. Each count of wire fraud could result in 20 years in prison and each count of embezzlement could result in five, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement.
