Shortly after that initial hearing, the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office received allegations about Young possibly embezzling funds earmarked for victim restitution and opened an investigation.

After a careful review of Young’s personal and business accounts, investigators discovered that Young had made numerous transfers of his client’s money from business accounts to his own personal bank account. He bought himself a motorcycle, took out cash withdrawals, paid his rent, and made a number of retail purchases.

At one point, Young told his client’s wife that the FBI would be pursuing money laundering charges against her husband and would freeze the couple’s joint checking account. He advised her to write him a personal check for $20,000 that he would deposit in his business account for “safekeeping,” which she did.

After sufficient evidence against Young was gathered in this case, federal authorities decided to charge him with obstruction of justice—for several reasons. He had lied to the court about the status of his client’s restitution funds. His actions could have potentially had a negative impact on his client’s sentence. And, as his client’s wife testified, he had instructed her to falsely write “attorney fees” on the $20,000 personal check she gave him, knowing that the check was not intended to be attorney fees.

Young was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2016 and convicted in November 2017 by a federal judge after a one-day bench trial. This past March, he was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison without parole.

This wasn’t the first time that Young had experienced legal problems. Investigators discovered 11 pending complaints filed against him from other clients. One former client reported that he had given Young money to pay a fine in a traffic case but the fine was never paid and the client was later arrested on an outstanding warrant. And other clients attested to paying Young for legal services that he never provided.

In August 2016, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an interim suspension of Young’s ability to practice law in Missouri. In September 2017, the same court suspended his license “until further order of the court.”

And the big takeaway from this case? That no one—not even the lawyers representing those charged with breaking the law—is above the law.