Johnny Sherwood Gaskins’ Accounts Seized in Embezzlement Case

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Summary: Attorney Johnny Sherwood Gaskins has had his personal and law firm accounts seized during an investigation into his finances.

State Bureau of Investigation officials have seized the accounts and financial records of prominent Raleigh attorney Johnny Sherwood Gaskins who is accused of embezzling money from clients.

  

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A search warrant report indicates that investigators asked BB&T Bank for paper and electronic records of Gaskins account and Triangle Litigation Support Services, Inc. They wanted records over a two and a half year period.

A complaint had been filed by the North Carolina State Bar against Gaskins claiming he forged a client’s signatures on a settlement from a 2015 traffic accident for $23,000. Gaskins then allegedly deposited the check into his personal bank account. The client was never informed of the settlement and was told by Gaskins that a settlement could take up to two years to finalize.

Gaskins is known his representation of Amanda Hayes over three years ago. She was convicted of helping her husband kill his ex-girlfriend Laura Ackerson and sentenced to 13 to 16.5 years behind bars for her role in Ackerson’s death. Ackerson had been dismembered and disposed of in a Texas creek. Exactly what happened will never for sure be known as the couple blame each other for her death.

He also represented Adam Sapikowski in 2008. In that case, Sapikowski pleaded guilty to murdering his parents and hiding their bodies in their upscale Chapel Hill home while he went to prom. The 19-year-old received a suspended sentence and $10,000 fine for an obstruction charge. He was sentenced to 19 to 24.5 years for the death of his father and up to 25 years in the death of his mother.

Other big cases Gaskins has taken on include Tony Johnson in 2004 and Kawame Mays in 1997. Johnson was involved in a shooting at a tailgate party for North Carolina State University that left two men dead. Mays murdered Raleigh police officer Paul Hale. Mays received life in prison for the death of Hale and another man.

Gaskins is also in trouble for evading Internal Revenue Service rules in 2010. He was convicted of trying to do this by structuring bank deposits so he could avoid the federal income reporting requirements. He only served one day in jail for nine months at a halfway house and three years of probation. He was making deposits just under $10,000 for a two-year period that totaled over $350,000. Reporting laws stipulate that deposits over $10,000 must have a currency transaction report, which provides the government with an alert of high streams of income without a clear source.

Criminal charges have not yet been filed and there is no State Bar hearing set yet.

Do you think clients should be more involved in their cases and take it upon themselves to find out what is going on so that attorneys are held more accountable? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

To learn more about embezzling attorneys, read these articles:

• University of Minnesota Law Professor Charged for Embezzling $4 Million
• Disbarred Attorney Embezzles $737K From Milwaukee Law Firm
• Fisher Law Group Employee Charged with Embezzlement

Photo: emirates247.com