Attorney Convicted of Embezzling Estate Funds Denied Compassionate R...

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Ohio denied a request by John W. Gold that he be released pending sentencing following his guilty plea to embezzling property from a bankruptcy estate.  Gold admitted in a plea agreement that he embezzled the funds and also committed bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.  Many of the facts surrounding the initial charges are available in this news report.

After being indicted in 2018, Gold evaded arrest for nearly a year until he was arrested in Thailand in September 2019.  He's been in custody since.  Last month he filed a motion to be released pending sentencing which, not surprisingly, the district rejected in short order (here) holding that evidence of Gold's flight risk was "obvious" in that he evaded arrest for 324 days until located in Thailand.

The court also rejected Gold's request for compassionate release on the ground that the jail where he is housed will likely become infected with COVID-19.  Judge Polster observed that the jail is taking proper precautions to avoid an outbreak.