WASHINGTON — Duncan Connelly, a 54-year-old former attorney, was sentenced to two years in prison for wire fraud after stealing more than $1.5 million from an estate he was hired to probate.
In July 2020, the executor of the estate of a Port Townsend woman hired Connelly; the woman left approximately $3.7 million to six nieces and nephews overseas, along with nine specific gifts to various entities.
The relatives were unfamiliar with the legal steps required to distribute the funds and close the estate and chose Connelly based on rankings on his former law firm’s website, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Connelly initially handled the estate appropriately while billing legal fees. In 2021, his law firm fired him, and he began operating as a solo practitioner.
After going into private practice, Connelly began delaying payments and ignoring inquiries from the heirs. In February 2023, he began stealing money from the estate account by writing checks to himself disguised as specific bequests, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In May 2023, he deposited a $10,000 check, followed by a $50,000 check, into his firm account and then transferred the funds to his personal account for personal expenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Throughout this period, he billed approximately $6,000 in legal fees for his work on the case.
In August 2023, Connelly stole $1.5 million from the estate account, labeling the transaction as a “transfer for investment.” He lost the money through day trading online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Although he made some partial payments to victims, the estate account held a little over $500 by July 2024, even though he owed the beneficiaries well over $1 million.
Connelly then stopped responding to the beneficiaries. Connelly eventually reported the theft to the FBI and federal prosecutors and agreed to voluntarily surrender his law license on March 5, 2026, as part of a plea agreement.
Federal prosecutors requested a 30-month prison sentence for Connelly.
“Connelly used his unique position of being the estate’s attorney to commit his crime, knowing his clients had no knowledge of the legal system or estate procedures of this country,” prosecutors wrote to the court. “Instead of helping the client he was actively billing and ethically required to help, he exploited their inexperience.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd emphasized the severity of the theft.
“Mr. Connelly not only stole from his victims, he lied to them about his embezzlement for nearly two years,” Floyd said. “His crime was predatory, prolonged and planned. The victims will likely not be made whole and will have to live the final years of their lives without the financial security that was rightfully theirs.”
During the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead ordered three years of supervised release following Connelly’s prison term and mandated $1,369,462 in restitution, accounting for funds Connelly previously repaid.
“We talk about these financial crimes as if they’re just money,.. but as one of the victim’s wrote, ‘this was the money of someone I loved’… (The victims) had trust in you…. What we’re really talking about is theft. And then you covered it up,” Whitehead said.