Blown
The Georgia Supreme Court has continued the suspension of a convicted high-profile attorney convicted of federal crimes pending the resolution of his appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The Daily Report (Law.com) reported on the criminal case
Atlanta lawyer Nathan Hardwick IV’s sentencing hearing has been set for Dec. 19, after a federal jury convicted him Friday of embezzling $26 million from now-defunct residential real estate firm, Morris Hardwick Schneider, where he was the majority owner.
Prosecutor J. Russell Phillips said the government would seek roughly 15 years in prison for Hardwick, 53, who was immediately taken into custody after the verdict.
Judge Eleanor Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that Hardwick “failed to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he is not likely to flee.”
Phillips had argued after the verdict that Hardwick was a flight risk, telling the judge: “A lot of money is still unaccounted for.”
Hardwick transferred at least $5 million from MHS to his girlfriend, Julia Olivares’ bank account, Phillips said, adding that he wired her the money in $500,000 increments, and it was subsequently withdrawn in cashier’s checks.
According to trial testimony, Hardwick often gambled at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, where Olivares has a beauty salon, Blown, according to her Facebook page.
The government has documented that about $19.6 million of the $26 million Hardwick was convicted of stealing came from MHS’s escrow accounts, but a Fidelity National Finance executive, Erika Meinhardt, testified during the trial that Fidelity spent $29.5 million to plug the escrow accounts.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story identified Julia Olivares as wearing an 8.35 carat diamond ring at the hearing that, according to government evidence presented at trial, Nathan Hardwick had bought for an ex-fiancee. The story was updated after Olivares told the Daily Report she was wearing a different diamond ring. Olivares also contested the prosecution’s assertion that she had been wired money in $500,000 increments, and she denied that she had “cashed any checks.”
And on the verdict
More on the verdict from Housing Wire.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution examined the criminal charges in its story on the opening statements. The attorney had sought to shift culpability to an employee who testified against him. (Mike Frisch)