Financial Fraud: Mark J. Schultz Pleaded Guilty For Wire Fraud and Mail Fraud Conspiracy

&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Leawood Attorney Pleads Guilty to Fraud Conspiracy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><strong>Law Partner Sentenced for &dollar;1&period;2 Million Fraud Scheme<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>KANSAS CITY&comma; Mo&period; – Tammy Dickinson&comma; United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri&comma; announced that a Leawood&comma; Kan&period;&comma; attorney pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a fraud conspiracy&comma; while his former law partner was sentenced for stealing more than &dollar;1&period;2 million from St&period; Luke’s Health System&comma; a client of their former law firm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Mark J&period; Schultz&comma; 57&comma; of Leawood&comma; waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U&period;S&period; District Judge Beth Phillips to a federal information that charges him with participating in a wire fraud and mail fraud conspiracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Alan B&period; Gallas&comma; 65&comma; of Kansas City&comma; Mo&period;&comma; was sentenced by U&period;S&period; District Judge Beth Phillips to one year and one day in federal prison without parole&period; The court also ordered Gallas to pay &dollar;1&comma;224&comma;264 in restitution to St&period; Luke’s&period; Gallas must report to the Bureau of Prisons by April 10&comma; 2017&comma; to begin serving his sentence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Schultz and Gallas were attorneys and partners in the law firm of Gallas &amp&semi; Shultz in Kansas City&comma; Mo&period;&comma; which specialized in collection work for corporations&period; Gallas surrendered his license to practice law in Missouri and Kansas in November 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>On April 13&comma; 2016&comma; Gallas pleaded guilty to mail fraud&period; Gallas admitted that he engaged in a scheme from 2009 through July 2015 to defraud a client&comma; St&period; Luke’s Health System&comma; of monies collected by his law firm totaling &dollar;1&comma;224&comma;264&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>By pleading guilty today&comma; in a separate but related case&comma; Schultz admitted that he participated in the conspiracy from January 2014 through July 2015&period; Under the terms of his plea agreement&comma; Schultz must forfeit to the government any property he derived from the proceeds of the wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Gallas was the attorney responsible for the St&period; Luke’s account at the law firm&period; After attempting to collect on patient accounts for a period of time&comma; St&period; Luke’s would transfer its larger outstanding patient accounts to Gallas &amp&semi; Shultz for collection&period; As payments on patient accounts were received&comma; the payments were logged into the case management system for the appropriate patient account&period; The monies were then deposited into the law firm’s trust account&period; On a periodic basis&comma; often monthly&comma; the firm would remit the patient payments collected to St&period; Luke’s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Gallas admitted that he caused personnel at the law firm to withhold money from payments made to St&period; Luke’s by placing thousands of payments on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;hold” status&comma; then directing those funds be transferred from the trust account to the firm’s operating account&period; The pattern of not remitting some payments to St&period; Luke’s escalated significantly from 2012 to 2015&period; According to court documents&comma; Gallas withheld 601 payments totaling &dollar;211&comma;391 in 2012&period; Gallas withheld 699 payments totaling &dollar;266&comma;696 in 2013&period; Gallas withheld 625 payments totaling &dollar;227&comma;892 in 2014&period; Through the month of July 2015&comma; Gallas withheld 625 payments totaling &dollar;216&comma;845&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Schultz admitted today that he agreed with Gallas and others to transfer funds from the trust account into the law firm’s operating account&period; The amount of funds diverted by Schultz&comma; and the amount of restitution Schultz must pay to St&period; Luke’s for the total amount of its loss&comma; will be determined by the court at Schultz’s sentencing hearing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Under federal statutes&comma; Schultz is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole&period; The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes&comma; as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors&period; A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Paul S&period; Becker&period; They were investigated by the FBI&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-wdmo&sol;pr&sol;leawood-attorney-pleads-guilty-fraud-conspiracy">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Financial Fraud