Timothy Sharpe has been accused of depositing checks made out to the Fisher Law Group into his account at Regions Bank. Sharpe was working as a paralegal for the firm, which is headquartered in Nashville. Sharpe was working in the Chattanooga office for the firm. He has been accused of embezzling $126,000 from the firm. Aside from the criminal charges filed against Sharpe, the law firm has filed a lawsuit against the bank because it refuses to return the firm’s money.
According to the lawsuit, Fisher said that the bank should have known that the deposited checks were “unreasonable, suspicious and inappropriate.” The lawsuit was filed in Davidson County Circuit Court. The lawsuit also alleges that the bank accepted the checks improperly, since they were made payable to the law firm and not Sharpe. The suit then says that because of this the firm should be reimbursed by the bank.
While working as a paralegal with the firm, Sharpe duties included depositing checks sent to the firm through the mail. The lawsuit alleges that Sharpe deposited over 30 checks during an 11-month period. The law firm was notified in April by an employee at Regions Bank who had become suspicious about the deposits Sharpe was making. The attorney for Fisher, Karl Warden, said in an interview with The Tennessean, “They were wondering why there was a lack of income.”
When Sharpe was confronted about the embezzlement Warden said that he admitted the wrongdoing. He even provided the law firm with his personal bank records to prove the transactions. During a span of two years, Sharpe deposited $73,000 in cash to his account, which the firm does not think belonged to it. The firm also said it does not know where that money came from.
“It’s a combination of, gee, that’s a lot of cash deposits, and wait a minute, these checks were not made out to you,” Warden said.