A high-profile Manassas lawyer who prosecutors say embezzled thousands of dollars from his clients and their medical providers was charged with laundering the money so he could use it.
A Prince William County grand jury Monday indicted Thomas E. Burks, 48, of Fairfax County, on four charges of money laundering that stem from individual transfers of cash between Nov. 24, 1999, and as recently as April 17, according to court records. Prosecutors said the transactions relate to a series of alleged embezzlements in which Burks allegedly took his clients' settlement money from a trust account.
"It was four separate instances of taking what we believe to be embezzled funds and converting them to his own use," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney John Notarianni said yesterday. "We are continuing to investigate where the money went."
Virginia State Police are investigating the case and are "still sorting it all out," spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said.
Unlike embezzlement, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison for each charge, the money laundering charges each carry up to 40 years in prison and fines of as much as $500,000.
William J. Baker, a Manassas attorney who was appointed by the court yesterday to represent Burks, said he had not yet met with his client and could not comment on the charges. Burks, who is being held without bond in the county jail, appeared in Prince William County Circuit Court yesterday morning to hear the indictments.
Police and colleagues have said Burks lived a lavish lifestyle. Some officials said Burks embezzled from several personal injury clients possibly to fund his lifestyle and to pay off large debts. Burks abandoned his Manassas law offices in May and disappeared for four months, as Virginia State Bar officials and state police investigators tracked him down.
State bar officials stripped Burks of his law license in July. He was indicted in September on three embezzlement charges related to misuse of his clients' money throughout late-1999.
Prosecutors are escalating their case with the new money laundering charges by using a state statute that has traditionally been aimed at curtailing drug dealers' financial scams. The statute was recently changed to apply to anyone who conducts a financial transaction in which he knows the property involved "represents the proceeds of an activity that is punishable as a felony." In Burks's case, the felony would be the initial embezzlement.
The pattern of alleged laundering leads up to the point when Burks's trust account apparently was emptied, shortly before his law offices closed in May. According to court records, investigators have determined four specific dates Burks allegedly laundered the cash in November 1999 and then January, March and April.
State bar officials determined that money from dozens of settlements was never paid to medical providers and insurance companies. They reported that Burks's trust account had dwindled to $2,765.68 by the time his bank accounts were frozen in May.
After abandoning his law offices, Burks was seen in and around his posh Mason Neck home but eluded police for months. After his arrest, Burks was released on bond, which he violated several times, according to court records. Burks was arrested as a fugitive in North Carolina shortly before Thanksgiving.
Burks's trial is scheduled to begin in January.
