Financial Fraud: Lengthy Prison Term for Estate Planner Who Betrayed Clients

Julie Kronhaus enjoyed a model life as an estate planner. She was highly regarding by professionals in the field and was often recommended for her breadth of knowledge and trustworthiness. Personally, Kronhaus spent lavishly on clothing, took numerous vacations, and reveled in regular trips to New York and Europe.

Unfortunately for her clients, Kronhaus was funding this extravagant lifestyle with monies taken from their trust accounts. A particularly troublesome victim of Kronhaus’s theft was a mother with a child who had been awarded a settlement resulting from a medical malpractice suit. Kronhaus failed to make payments to the client and may have delayed a number of payments due to her spending. An out-of-state lawyer, another  victim, grew suspicious of Kronhaus’s activities and reported her to law enforcement. The report led to Kronhaus’s 2016 arrest, an eventual 10-year prison sentence, and an order to repay $3 million in restitution.

See Financial Fraud: Lengthy Prison Term for Estate Planner Who Betrayed Clients, FBI, August15, 2017.

Special thanks to Victoria Sutton, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor, for bringing this article to my attention.