Legal News

Former Winston & Strawn Lawyer Set to Plead in Starr Ponzi Case

By Ashby Jones

The big fish has fallen.

Now it appears that the Number 2 fish is ready to submit to his own fate.

Prosecutors said in court Monday that former Winston & Strawn partner Jonathan Bristol is set to plead guilty to criminal charges stemming from his role in financier Kenneth Starr’s $30 million Ponzi scheme.

Last week, Starr was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to a host of crimes, including wire fraud and money laundering. Click here for our post on that; here for a post from last summer on Starr. Click here for the American Lawyer’s story on the Bristol developments; here for the New York Law Journal story.

According to the NYLJ, a federal prosecutor told Manhattan federal district court judge Deborah Batts that an agreement in principle has been reached in the case against Bristol. Bristol was charged in December with laundering more than $20 million through his attorney escrow accounts for Starr.

An SEC civil suit against Bristol alleges that Bristol served as counsel to Starr and his financial firms since at least 2007. Bristol’s attorney, Susan Kellman, could not be reached for comment.

Judge Batts set a May 2 deadline for a possible plea by Bristol.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 08, 2011 (boomark / email).