Estate Planning Lawyer’s 18-Year Money Laundering Sentence Valid

An estate planning attorney who pleaded guilty to money laundering after being charged with defrauding his clients out of $13 million is stuck with his 18-year sentence, the Third Circuit said Thursday.

Michael Kwasnik was denied permission to withdraw his plea and appealed. After filling his appeal, he filed three more motions with the district court challenging his guilty plea, which were all denied.

• The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit refused to hear any arguments concerning Kwasnik’s post-appeal motions because he didn’t amend his original appeal or file a second appeal including them
• The district court didn’t ...