Florida Attorney Sentenced To 14 Years Of Hard Time In Federal Prison. Court Found Phillip Howard Guilty Of Racketeering

A federal court has sentenced Florida attorney Phillip Timothy Howard of Tallahassee, Florida to fourteen years in federal prison. Howard pleaded guilty to racketeering (RICO). 

U.S. Attorney Coody told the media:

“The defendant should have been protecting the interest of his injured clients, rather than swindling their investments. Today’s sentence both punishes the defendant’s criminal conduct and should serve as a significant deterrent to others who would selfishly steal to unlawfully enrich themselves. With our law enforcement partners, we remain committed to investigating and prosecuting those who engage in such fraudulent conduct.”

Court documents show that between December 2015 and January 2018, Howard, along with employees of his law firm engaged in a criminal enterprise. The goal was to defraud his clients of funds from an NFL class-action lawsuit.

In addition to his law firm, Howard used several Tallahassee investment companies under his control to steal from clients. Howard and his cohorts actively participated in the affairs of the enterprise. Namely, wire fraud and money laundering.

Howard fraudulently enticed his clients to invest their retirement funds with his investment companies. However, he failed to disclose the structure of the enterprise. He also neglected to inform his clients of the conflicts of interest. In addition, he neglected to tell them about the criminal background of people employed by the Enterprise. He also failed to tell them the true nature of the investment companies’ funds.

Howard reassured investors that their money was secure. However, Howard never informed them that almost none of the investment funds yielded a return. He also failed to disclose that the investment funds had been commingled with the operating funds of his law firm. Howard also used investor funds to fund payroll for his staff, Howard also used the funds to pay his personal mortgages. Thus, personally enriching himself.

In addition, the former NFL player investors were provided fraudulent quarterly and year-end investment statements

IRS Criminal Investigators Pulled A Blitzkrieg On Howard

Additionally, Howard sought third-party lenders to advance money to Howard’s former NFL clients. The clientsd were waiting on a settlement  in the NFL concussion class-action lawsuit.

Howard provided false and fraudulent information to secure the funds. This included numerous material misrepresentations and omissions to the lenders. Howard and others fraudulently obtained $8 million from third-party lenders through such conduct.

Howard also solicited investment in a real estate project located in Jacksonville, Florida. He promised the investor certain investment returns within a specified period.

Howard told the investor to transfer money to an investment company. He and an employee falsely told the investor that additional money was needed to close the deal. As a result, the investor transferred additional proceeds based on the false promise.

After several months, Howard told the woman that the real estate investment funds were secure. He also told her that he would return the money to her. Howard also tried fraudulently obtain over $520,000 from this investor through this conduct.

Howard’s prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, and he will also be required to pay restitution in the amount of $12.64 million.

Read More About Crooked Florida Lawyers On MFI-Miami.com.