LAS VEGAS CIVIL LAWYER SENTENCED TO 366 DAYS FOR LAUNDERING OF MONETARY INSTRUMENTS

R. Christopher Reade, center.

Nevada attorney R. Christopher Reade, who represented a $16m fraudster, who is now serving a 25-year sentence, was handed a 366 day sentence for Accessory after the Fact to the Laundering of Monetary Instruments, in US District Court* this week. He was also fined $40,000, and sentenced to three years of post-incarceration Supervised Release; government prosecutors asked for a two-year sentence, and his attorney requested leniency, claiming that the attorney was only guilty of zealously representing his client. That may be the case when a client is engaged in legitimate business, but not when the client is a fraudster, and you know it.

Reade reportedly hid his client's financial interest in a purchase, and later committed perjury when he was asked to disclose relevant information about ownership, and a $2.3m investment. Non-lawyer readers who were wondering why he received the extra day, in lieu of a 1-year sentence: adding the additional day gives the defendant two months of gain time off his sentence, which is only earned if it was more than one year. The Court did the defendant a favor.

Was the sentence insufficient as a deterrent to other legal professionals who might be tempted ? We cannot say, but we hope that local media about the case, have been read, and assimilated, by the American legal community. If you look at the above photo, the defendant is, rightly so, humiliated and ashamed. American attorneys have a poor enough image with the public; every time another one goes to prison for money laundering, it deteriorates further.
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* United States vs. Reade, Case No.: 14-cr-00022-KJD-CWH (D Nev).