<h2>Suspended Attorney William O’Brien Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that William O’Brien&comma; 60&comma; an attorney who lives in Winooski&comma; pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Burlington to a charge of wire fraud&period; Chief U&period;S&period; District Judge Christina Reiss released O’Brien on conditions pending sentencing&comma; which has been set for May 31&comma; 2017 in Brattleboro&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On October 13&comma; the United States filed a criminal information charging O’Brien with one count of wire fraud&comma; the charge which he admitted today&period; The information charges O’Brien with defrauding two former law clients&period; In one case&comma; O’Brien became the trustee of a trust established by the clients&period; As trustee&comma; O’Brien was to use trust funds to make charitable contributions in the memory of the clients&period; Between 2008 and 2013&comma; O’Brien did make a number of contributions of trust funds in the total amount of &dollar;97&comma;500&comma; but also improperly diverted about &dollar;270&comma;000 in trust funds to his law firm account&period; In another case&comma; O’Brien received in his capacity as attorney more than &dollar;247&comma;000 in client funds&comma; which were also meant to be used for charitable purposes&period; Although O’Brien did make one contribution of &dollar;15&comma;000&comma; he again used the remaining funds for his own benefit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In early 2016&comma; O’Brien did repay about &dollar;472&comma;000 to these two clients&comma; but those payments were made only after O’Brien became aware he was under investigation by counsel for the Vermont bar&period; The Vermont Supreme Court suspended O’Brien’s law license in January&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>O’Brien faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to &dollar;250&comma;000&period; The actual sentence will be determined with reference to federal sentencing guidelines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case was investigated by the Burlington Police Department&comma; the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service and the Vermont Judiciary’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>O’Brien is represented by Scott McGee of Norwich&period; The prosecutor is Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Gregory Waples&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-vt&sol;pr&sol;suspended-attorney-william-o-brien-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;