BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - A lawyer has admitted embezzling nearly $824,000 from the Beverly Hills Bar Association to support his gambling habit.
David Alan Wolfe, 36, faces 2 1/2 years in prison when he is sentenced in federal court next month under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Wolfe, former controller of the association, admitted taking the money in a videotaped statement to FBI agents in May. His attorney, George F. Bird Jr., said Wolfe "gambled it all away."
Since the thefts, the bar association has struggled to stay afloat and provide promised scholarships and legal services to the poor.
"It has been devastating because he left us with a bare cupboard and, even worse, he left us with unpaid bills," said Marc R. Staenberg, president-elect and interim executive director of the bar association.
