Ohio Lawyer Caught in Money-Laundering Sting Suspended

An attorney who was convicted on money-laundering charges should be indefinitely suspended rather than permanently disbarred, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.

Several mitigating factors and the favorable testimony of a judge who knew him well supported the lesser sanction for attorney Matthew Joseph King, the high court said in a per curiam opinion.

Further, there was evidence that he withdrew from the scheme before it was implemented, the court said.

King was approached by a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant posing as a drug dealer, according to the court. The informant asked him to form a corporation to launder drug profits. King accepted $20,000 in cash and said he would deposit it. But he didn’t deposit the money or open the corporation. The informant kept asking for amounts of the cash back—the FBI’s cash—and King complied. The informant also got King to write two $2,000 checks from his personal account, one of which he deposited before disappearing.

A jury convicted King on three counts, and he served about two years in prison.

King testified at his disciplinary hearing that he was an alcoholic and had been dealing with several family issues at the time of his criminal conduct. He testified about his recovery from alcoholism in prison, and a judge who was a personal friend corroborated the information and said King was highly talented and could someday resume the practice of law.

Disciplinary prosecutors sought permanent disbarment, but the board recommended indefinite suspension with proof of continued sobriety as a condition for reinstatement.

The supreme court agreed with the recommendation, citing the judge’s testimony and the fact that Kind didn’t set up a corporation for the purported drug dealer or deposit the money he received.

The case is Cleveland Metro. Bar Ass’n v. King, 2019 BL 443784, Ohio, No. 2018-1762, 11/19/19.