United States v. Philip Layfield

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Crime and Court Appearances To make a long story short, Layfield was a crooked plaintiff’s lawyer and certified public accountant with operations in Los Angeles and elsewhere. He routinely (and illegally) used client settlements to cover his personal expenses as well as his firm’s operating expenses to the tune of millions of dollars commingled and stolen, and eventually moved to Costa Rica—at which point his client trust account was down to $134. Speedy Trial Act cases often turn on specific dates, so the key events are listed in bullet form below for ease of the reader.

1 Layfield also individually challenges some of his wire fraud and tax convictions. We address those claims in a concurrently filed memorandum disposition, in which we also affirm.

UNITED STATES V. LAYFIELD

• February 23, 2018: A complaint in the Central District of California (CDCA) charged Layfield with one count of mail fraud for defrauding a client and misusing the client’s settlement funds. • February 24, 2018: Agents arrested Layfield on the Los Angeles arrest warrant at the Newark International Airport while he was boarding a flight to Costa Rica. • …