Coldwater disbarred attorney sentenced for stealing from 95-year-old

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A disbarred Coldwater attorney has been sentenced to months in jail for stealing over $100,000 from a 95-year-old law firm client, the attorney general’s office said.

James O’Briant, 64, was sentenced to four months in the Kalamazoo County Jail and three years of probation Monday. He will also have to pay $168,067.73 in restitution, the AG’s office said.

In October, he pleaded guilty to four counts of larceny, $20,000 or more, and two counts of taxes-failure to file/false return. The AG’s office said O’Briant entered a plea agreement where he would only be sentenced on one of each charge and the remaining charges would be dismissed as long as he paid $154,511.73 to the victim by the end of April. He also agreed to pay $13,556 to the Michigan Department of Treasury. However, O’Briant did not pay the victim by the deadline and was sentenced on all six counts, the AG’s office said.

O’Briant, who was previously disbarred, had access to the victim’s money while he was working under a licensed attorney, according to the AG’s office. The licensed attorney, who had a representation agreement with the 95-year-old victim, was temporarily holding the victim’s money in the law firm’s trust account to keep it safe, the office said.

O’Briant transferred the money to the law firm’s business accounts and then transferred it again “for his own purposes,” the AG’s office said — including more than $40,000 to his personal investment accounts. He didn’t report the stolen money on his taxes in 2018 or 2019, according to the office.

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