In a notable breach of trust within the Los Angeles legal community, divorce attorney Evie Jeang has been accused of embezzling a substantial sum from a client's trust account. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has charged Jeang with allegedly stealing around $4.8 million between September 2015 and May 2017, as reported by CBS Los Angeles. These funds were supposed to be distributed to her client and his then-wife, during a divorce case that Jeang was handling in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The alleged theft appears to be part of a longer narrative of deceit, that, extended over two years during which Jeang represented her client in their divorce. According to information obtained from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, she allegedly falsified a bank statement on or around November 2, 2021, in an attempt to cover up the embezzlement. Such acts cast a significant shadow on the legal profession, compromising the trust clients place in their legal representatives.
Jeang, who is 47, is currently facing four felony charges. These include grand theft, grand theft by embezzlement, preparing false documentary evidence, and perjury by declaration, with a special sentence enhancement for aggravated white-collar crime, as per the details furnished by the District Attorney's announcement. If convicted on all counts, the attorney could potentially spend up to eight years in state prison.
As the case unfolds, the State Bar of California has already responded to the charges by placing Jeang on inactive status subsequent to her no-contest plea to disciplinary charges related to the embezzlement case. Officials have articulated the damaging impact of her actions, noting that Jeang's conduct inflicted significant harm to both parties involved and to the process of law itself. "Jeang's conduct caused significant harm not only to the parties, including her client, whose funds she misappropriated but also to the court, which, along with the parties, had to expend significant resources to untangle the fraud perpetrated by Jeang through her disregard of court orders and her misrepresentations to the parties and the court," Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona expressed. Jeang is being held on $150,000 bail, with her arraignment pending scheduling.
According to her profile with the State Bar of California, she is ineligible to practice law in the state pending the California Supreme Court's consideration of her disbarment.
