pettit

Chris Pettit wants trial postponed to negotiate possible plea deal

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia agreed Monday to reset the trial to May 22 from March 20 after Pettit’s attorney asked for a 90-day delay.

Mathew T. Allen, Pettit’s defense lawyer, said in a court filing last week that he needed the extra time to review “the voluminous” amount of documents filed in the case. But he also wanted more time “to have thorough and adequate negotiations (with prosecutors) in an attempt
to resolve this matter
without a trial.”

Last month, the judge agreed to push back the trial’s Feb. 13 start date by five weeks after Allen said he needed more time to review the material in the case.

On ExpressNews.com:

Chris Pettit’s forgotten clients: He settled lawsuits for Latino clients who didn’t get their money

Allen didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.

Garcia set a May 11 deadline for the parties to notify the court of any plea agreement. If no deal is reached, a pretrial conference will be held May 18.

A grand jury indicted Pettit, 55, in December on five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering, charges that could land him in prison for years if convicted. He has

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February 28, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Lawyer for Chris Pettit raises concerns about ‘authenticity’ of $270 million in bankruptcy claims

A lawyer for Chris Pettit, in a letter to the judge presiding over the ex-attorney’s bankruptcies, has raised questions about the “authenticity” of the $270 million in claims submitted by creditors in the cases.

The “obvious concern is that some creditors may take substantially more dividend than they are entitled to the detriment of honest creditors,” San Antonio bankruptcy lawyer Ron Smeberg wrote.

Pettit is in jail awaiting trial in connection with the alleged theft of millions of dollars from his former legal clients. He pleaded not guilty after his indictment on
five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering
last week.

On ExpressNews.com:

Judge denies Chris Pettit’s release on bond, will remain jailed until his criminal trial

Pettit filed for bankruptcy protection
for himself and his law firm June 1 amid
mounting lawsuits that alleged he had defrauded clients. He subsequently
surrendered his law license
and shuttered his offices.

Smeberg said questions about the creditors’ claims “developed” during a detention hearing Tuesday in federal court in which prosecutors argued Pettit should remain incarcerated pending trial.

FBI agent Thomas Sweatt testified the “current claims” against Pettit were in the range of $30 (million) to $70 million,

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December 19, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy judge denies Chris Pettit’s bid to get out of jail

SAN ANTONIO — Christopher “Chris” Pettit will remain in jail after a bankruptcy court judge ruled Wednesday that the disgraced former lawyer had not done enough to clear himself of a contempt of court charge.

Telling Pettit he holds the keys to his jail cell, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta set 17 conditions the ex-attorney must satisfy to be released. First on the list is that Pettit turn over a business laptop to the trustee administering the bankruptcy estate. Pettit has given conflicting accounts regarding its whereabouts.

“It would really move things along if Mr. Pettit would come clean about what happened with regard to the laptop, good or bad, so we could move on in this case,” Gargotta said. The laptop purportedly contains information the trustee wants regarding Pettit’s clients and their funds.

“I’m not suggesting he say this, but if Mr. Pettit were to say, ‘I destroyed it’ … then if that really was the truth, then we would know … that as a result (the trustee and creditors are) not going to get that information,” the judge added. “Really, what’s at issue here is just saying where it is.”

On ExpressNews.com:

One of Chris Pettit’s largest

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November 13, 2022 by ATTORNEY
December 2024
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