Indianapolis Attorney to Serve 10 Years in Prison for Defrauding Clients
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 17, 2013 |
INDIANAPOLIS—Chief U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young today sentenced Indianapolis attorney William F. Conour to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison for defrauding his clients of more than $4.5 million over more than a decade. Conour was ordered to pay more than $6.7 million in restitution to his victims.
On July 15, 2013, Conour entered an open plea of guilty to the scheme as charged. He has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his bond was revoked on June 27, 2013. At that time, Judge Young granted the government’s motion to revoke bond after finding that Conour had breached the conditions of his bond when he dissipated assets without prior consent by the government.
Today’s sentence was announced by Jim Lewis, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, and Robert A. Jones, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Indianapolis Division.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from 1999 and continuing through April 2012, Conour kept a majority of his clients’ settlement proceeds for his own use and benefit. Most of Conour’s law practice was devoted to representing clients who had suffered serious injuries or death caused by construction site accidents, automobile collisions, and accidents resulting in traumatic brain injury. Instead of depositing the full amount of client settlements into client "trust" accounts, Conour provided funds only sufficient to enable the client to receive monthly payments for a year. Further, Conour used newly obtained settlement funds to pay old settlements and debts.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana has been recused in this matter. The U.S. Attorney General appointed the Central District of Illinois to handle the case prosecution. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Bohm, Central District of Illinois, Urbana Division.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance provided by the Indiana State Police, conducted the investigation.