- April 22, 2024
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A Winter Park attorney will spend time in prison after reportedly taking money from clients who hired her in good faith.
On June 13, U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. sentenced Julie Kronhaus to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud. She also must pay more than $2.7 million in restitution.
The 52-year-old attorney defrauded her clients and banks of about $2.7 million from June 2009 to February 2015, according to her plea agreement.
Before pleading guilty in January, Kronhaus faced up to 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud and up to 30 years for the bank fraud.
“I hope to get back to a point in my life as quickly as possible where I can work to make up the financial losses to my victims and their families,” Kronhaus wrote in a letter to Judge Dalton requesting leniency. “I know my victims have good reason to be angry with me for their misplaced trust and my theft of their monies. I have every intention of paying them back in full.”
As an attorney, Kronhaus acted as a trustee for her clients, holding their money in various bank accounts depending on the purpose. However, instead of using the funds for their intended uses, Kronhaus would transfer the money into her firm’s bank accounts and pay for her personal expenses. That included making substantial payments to her American Express bills, along with items such as travel, clothing, dining and entertainment.
Kronhaus also engaged in a check-kiting scheme, where she would write checks with accounts that had insufficient funds. She would deposit the worthless checks into her trust account at another bank to give the appearance that there were sufficient funds in the account. Kronhaus then issued checks from her trust account to her clients, taking advantage of the bank’s float time.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James Mandolfo.
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