Some of the most famous lawyers who went to jail were prosecuted for stealing from the clients who trusted them, while others were convicted of murder, campaign finance crimes, or aiding a terrorist. The list includes Tom Girardi, Michael Avenatti, Alex Murdaugh, Marc Dreier, Scott Rothstein, Michael Cohen, and Lynne Stewart, and their sentences range from a few years to life without parole.
Attorneys Who Stole From Their Clients
Client theft is the offense that lands the most lawyers in federal prison. The pattern is familiar: a trusted attorney diverts settlement funds or investment proceeds into personal accounts, then lies to clients about where the money went.
Tom Girardi spent decades building one of the most celebrated plaintiff-side practices in the country. Behind the reputation, he was embezzling tens of millions of dollars in settlement money owed to injured clients, using the stolen funds to cover his firm’s operating expenses and his own lifestyle. A federal jury found him guilty of wire fraud, and in June 2025 he was sentenced to 87 months in prison. The California State Bar had already disbarred him in 2022.
Michael Avenatti gained national fame as a media-savvy litigator before his public profile collapsed under multiple federal prosecutions. In the most serious case, he pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and a count of obstructing IRS tax collection after stealing roughly $7.6 million from four clients by funneling their settlement payments into his own accounts. A federal judge sentenced him to 14 years, running consecutive to five years already imposed in two earlier New York cases involving extortion and fraud. The court also ordered him to pay more than $10.8 million in restitution.
Marc Dreier ran a large New York law firm and used his position to carry out a brazen fraud. He impersonated representatives of other companies to sell fake promissory notes to hedge funds and other investors, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Scott Rothstein, a prominent Florida attorney, orchestrated a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme through his law firm, selling investors fabricated legal settlements that did not exist. After cooperating with prosecutors, he still received a 50-year federal sentence.
Alex Murdaugh: Theft and Murder
Alex Murdaugh’s case stands apart because it spans both financial crime and extreme violence. For years, Murdaugh was a well-connected personal injury lawyer in rural South Carolina, part of a family that had dominated local legal circles for nearly a century. He was secretly stealing millions from his own clients and his law firm, diverting settlement funds meant for people who had suffered serious injuries.
In 2023, a South Carolina jury convicted him of murdering his wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son, Paul. The judge imposed two consecutive life sentences without parole. In a separate federal prosecution, Murdaugh was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the financial fraud and ordered to pay close to $9 million in restitution. Those federal charges covered 22 counts and represented the final set of criminal cases against him.
Convictions Tied to Politics, Public Office, and Ideology
Not every convicted lawyer was stealing from clients. Some were prosecuted for crimes connected to their political work or their representation of controversial figures.
Michael Cohen, who served as personal attorney to Donald Trump, pleaded guilty in 2018 to an eight-count information that included tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and campaign finance violations. In a separate prosecution brought by the Special Counsel’s Office, he also pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Lynne Stewart was a veteran criminal defense attorney in New York who was convicted of helping her imprisoned client, convicted terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with his followers outside of prison. She was originally sentenced to 28 months, but a federal appeals court sent the case back for resentencing, and she ultimately received 10 years.
One well-known name belongs on this list only with a caveat. Marilyn Mosby, the former State’s Attorney for Baltimore, was convicted of two counts of perjury related to false statements she made on financial documents, but she was not sentenced to prison. A federal judge imposed 12 months of home confinement as part of a three-year supervised release term. Despite a public campaign for a presidential pardon, her name did not appear on President Biden’s final pardon lists.
What a Conviction Does to a Lawyer’s License
Prison is not the only consequence. Under the disciplinary framework followed by most states, a court must immediately suspend any lawyer found guilty of a “serious crime,” a category that includes any felony and any lesser offense involving dishonesty, fraud, misrepresentation, or interference with the justice system. That suspension applies regardless of whether an appeal is pending.
Once the conviction is final, it serves as conclusive proof that the lawyer committed the crime, and the only remaining question at a disciplinary hearing is what level of punishment to impose. For crimes involving what the law calls “moral turpitude,” disbarment is the standard result. Moral turpitude covers offenses that reflect fundamental dishonesty or a serious breach of ethical duty, and virtually every crime described above qualifies. Girardi was disbarred by the California State Bar in 2022, before his criminal trial even concluded. Avenatti was disbarred by the California Supreme Court in February 2025. Every other lawyer profiled here either has been disbarred or faces inevitable disbarment proceedings.