Disbarred South Florida Lawyer Sentenced to 33 Months for Stealing Client Trust Funds

Published Nov. 6, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

Client money wired into a lawyer's trust account is supposed to stay there for the client's matter. On June 26, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced that disbarred lawyer John Spencer Jenkins had been sentenced the day before to 33 months in prison for misusing more than three-quarters of a million dollars of clients' money [1].

Status: Jenkins has been convicted and sentenced by Judge David S. Leibowitz. Case No. 24-CR-60172-DSL [1].

What he admitted

According to plea documents summarized by prosecutors [1], clients wired funds into his firm's Interest on Trust Account (IOTA) and general business accounts for legal services. In one estate matter, an executor wired funds for Jenkins to distribute among designees; instead he wired those funds into separate accounts for personal use.

The person sentenced

John Spencer Jenkins. Disbarred lawyer. Sentenced to 33 months for misusing more than $750,000 in client funds; S.D. Fla. 24-CR-60172-DSL [1].

Case status (as of Nov. 6, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status	Source
John Spencer Jenkins	U.S. District Court, S.D. Fla. (Judge David S. Leibowitz), 24-CR-60172-DSL	Sentenced to 33 months (announced June 26, 2025)	[1]

Statuses can change, including through appeal.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, "Headed to Prison: Disbarred South Florida Lawyer Who Stole Client Funds," June 26, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/headed-prison-disbarred-south-florida-lawyer-who-stole-client-funds