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Former New Haven, Conn.-based bankruptcy attorney Peter Ressler was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after he previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud, two counts of embezzlement from a bankruptcy estate and bankruptcy fraud, the New Haven Register reported. In total, Ressler misappropriated more than $3.4 million from 48 clients and used the money for personal and family living expenses including a beach condo, frequent trips to Florida and multiple boats, to cover the expenses of his practice and to fund payments relating to other clients and other bankruptcy estates from which he had previously improperly taken monies. Along with his imprisonment, he has to pay more than $4.8 million in restitution, which includes the embezzled funds and additional monies he did not embezzle but owes to more than 60 other clients of his law practice.

Joel Sanders, the former chief financial officer at now-defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf, avoided a prison term yesterday when a New York State Supreme Court justice instead ordered him to pay a $1 million fine and perform 750 hours of community service, the New York Law Journal reported yesterday. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had urged for the maximum sentence under his May 2017 conviction: One-and-a-third to four years in prison. Sanders was convicted in May of two Class E felonies and one misdemeanor, first-degree scheme to defraud and securities fraud under the Martin Act, as well as fifth-degree conspiracy. The no-prison sentence imposed by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz is a remarkable outcome for a criminal case that began in 2014, when prosecutors filed more than 100 charges against four former Dewey & LeBoeuf figures, including the firm’s top three executives. Prosecutors alleged the executives hid the firm's precarious finances from investors and lenders before Dewey & LeBoeuf's May 2012 bankruptcy, in what remains the largest law firm failure in U.S. history.