Disbarred attorney sentenced to 15 months for tax evasion
A former Bakersfield divorce lawyer who was disbarred in 2018 was sentenced to 15 months in prison Monday after being convicted on a federal tax evasion charge.
Heather Stanley, 51, was sentenced for one count of tax evasion. Other charges — five counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud — were dismissed.
“This is a reasonable disposition under the circumstances and Ms. Stanley was pleased with the outcome,” said David Torres, Stanley’s defense attorney.
Stanley was charged in 2020 with stealing $3.5 million from her clients to support her lavish lifestyle, then not reporting her illicit income to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a sentencing statement submitted by prosecutors in the case, U.S. Attorney Philip Talbert and U.S. Assistant Attorney Joseph Barton.
The statement said Stanley used the money to buy a yacht and a luxury car.
“Simply put, a lawyer cannot be allowed to steal millions of dollars from her client to live the high life and reap a windfall by avoiding the taxes,” the statement read.
According to court documents, Stanley told her divorce clients that she could hold funds for them in an attorney trust account during their divorce proceedings. However, Stanley used that money for personal use rather than for her clients.
Stanley was disbarred in 2018 after she failed to show up in court for her trial in State Bar Court on charges of misappropriating $1 million that was supposed to be set aside for clients.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of California declined to comment Monday.
Stanley is ordered to self-surrender by noon Oct. 4, according to a spokesperson from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
This story was updated to state Stanley was sentenced for one count.
