A Los Angeles divorce attorney has been charged with four felony counts after allegedly embezzling $4.8 million from a client trust fund during a two-year period between the fall of 2015 and spring of 2017.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reported on Sept. 19 that attorney Evie Jeang, who is no longer eligible to practice law, now faces charges for grand theft, grand theft by embezzlement, preparation of false documentary evidence and perjury. Prosecutors are also arguing that Jeang engaged in aggravated white-collar crime.
“Attorneys who misappropriate client funds not only violate their client’s trust but undermine the integrity of the entire legal profession and legal system,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a prepared statement. “Attorneys have an inviolate duty to their clients and a professional responsibility to act ethically to uphold our laws. Our office is committed to holding attorneys who break the law fully accountable.”
Jeang, who was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2002, could face a sentence of eight years and eight months in state prison if she is convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Her bail was set at $150,000, but Jeang remains in custody.
The State Bar filed disciplinary charges against Jeang on March 21, and the State Bar’s court filings indicate that she pleaded no contest earlier this year to misappropriating nearly $5 million in client funds and then falsified bank records. She has also stipulated to a disbarment agreement that included potential monetary sanctions of $5,000 and a requirement to make restitution of nearly $2.5 million, along with 10% yearly interest.
The State Bar indicated that the agreement has yet to be finalized.
“The restitution is part of the stipulation disbarment agreement, and we are awaiting for the (state) Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter,” a State Bar spokesman told the Southern California Record in an email.
Jeang's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
In July, George Cardona, the State Bar’s chief trial counsel, said that such client trust account violations are frequently the topic of client complaints the agency must take up.
“Given this, in 2023 the Office of Chief Trial Counsel established a team of investigators and attorneys dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of client trust account violations,” Cardona said.
The trust fund that is the subject of the embezzlement charges belonged to Honglu “Catherine” Zhang and Brian Daly, who were going through a marriage dissolution proceeding beginning in 2015. The client fund largely consisted of the proceedings from the parties’ sale of their former home for $6.5 million, according to the State Bar.
The State Bar investigation also alleged that Jeang tried to disqualify a judge overseeing a hearing that examined accounting issues related to the client trust fund. The statements that the attorney advanced to disqualify the judge were later determined to be false.
A June 18 State Bar filing alleged that Jeang’s actions consisted of several acts of moral turpitude, dishonesty, fraud and breaches of the state’s Business and Professions Code.
The California Legislature recently passed legislation that increased annual attorney dues in an attempt to better ensure appropriate attorney discipline for those who defy ethics rules and to put in place a system to more proactively monitor client trust funds.