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Cleveland attorney Matthew King was convicted Thursday of money laundering.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland criminal defense attorney was found guilty Thursday of agreeing to launder thousands of dollars for what he believed was a cocaine dealer in 2014.

Following a four-day trial, a 12-member jury convicted Matthew King, 45, of two counts of money laundering and one count of attempted money laundering.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent will sentence King on Aug. 30. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

The judge allowed King to remain free on bond.

King was charged with approaching a confidential informant for the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force when both were at Christie's Cabaret strip club in the Flats. King thought the informant was a drug trafficker and King told the informant that he could launder money.

King and the informant met on several other times, and took $20,000 of the informant's cash with the intent of laundering it through his attorney trust account. He would then write checks back to the informant.

The informant recorded their conversations.

King later admitted his deeds to investigators, that he had actually stolen some of the money and had contacted two drug dealers on how to launder the money.

King, at trial, argued that he never deposited the money into the trust account and that he got cold feet after agreeing to launder money for the informant. He testified on Wednesday.

Timothy Ivey, King's federal public defender, said that the verdict "is what it is." He said he expects his client to appeal his case.

King had an office on West 3rd Street at the time of the investigation. He worked for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office between 1999 and 2002. Prior to that, he was an assistant prosecutor and law director for the city of Lakewood.

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