Ex Paralegal Charged with Defrauding Clients

Ex-paralegal charged with defrauding clients
A former paralegal has been charged with stealing at least $150,000 from clients of an East Bar law firm by secretly settling their cases and pocketing the funds. The FBI said her victims included her boss, an attorney who was disbarred.
Ana Lissa Reyes of San Leandro pleaded not guilty last week to charges of mail fraud and of evading income taxes for 2006 through 2011.
Reyes worked for 17 years as a secretary, office manager and paralegal for attorney Brian Ching, who had offices in Alameda and Union City. According to an FBI agent’s sworn declaration, for several years Reyes, acting largely without supervision, claimed to be acting for the firm in negotiating settlements for its clients, then deposited the money into her own account.
She also took on clients in the firm’s name and kept their fees for herself, and stole additional funds from the firm’s client trust account, the agent said.
Ching started getting complaints from clients about missing funds in 2009-10 and confronted Reyes, who denied wrongdoing, the FBI declaration said. After more complaints surfaced and the State Bar opened its own investigation, Ching fired Reyes in June 2011, but she continued contacting clients and taking their money, the agent said.
The declaration listed more than three dozen alleged victims, including Ching. The attorney was disbarred in September for allegedly misappropriating $7,800 from one of the clients who had actually been victimized by Reyes, the FBI agent said.
Attorney Keith Brooks, who represented Ching in the disbarment proceedings, said the State Bar found that the attorney had been grossly negligent in supervising Reyes. During that period, Brooks said, Ching’s son died, his marriage failed, and he was “pretty much emotionally crushed.”
A public defender representing Reyes was unavailable for comment.