BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (LEX 18)– A former Campbellsville attorney has been sentenced to federal prison for misappropriating funds to pay personal expenses.
Danny Butler was sentenced to eight years in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1,293,072.84 in restitution for a scheme to obtain money from clients of his legal practice, by means of misappropriating funds, in order to pay personal expenses including gambling losses.
Butler was indicted on November 15, 2017. According to a sentencing memo before the Court, from August 2009 through October 2016, Butler used his position as an attorney to steal funds from his clients causing a loss of over $1.2 million dollars to his client victims who were a combination of estate and general civil law practice clients.
During the period of the theft, Butler incurred approximately $1.5 million in gambling losses. Butler used the stolen money to fund his gambling habits as well as to fund payments to other clients in a “Ponzi” type fashion. Butler used the theft from his clients to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
There is no parole in the federal prison sentence.
