Attorney Sentenced for Cheating Asbestos Victims of Settlements

A disbarred attorney was sentenced in Miami last week to 15 years in prison for skimming about $13.5 million in settlement money from thousands of clients made ill by asbestos and using it to support a swank lifestyle.

Louis S. Robles, 59, also was ordered to pay full restitution.

The maximum sentence from U.S. District Judge Alan Gold came after Gold rejected a plea agreement that had been reached in September. Under the plea deal, Robles would have been given a 10-year sentence.

Prosecutors said Robles used money from his asbestos clients’ trust funds to pay for personal real estate, including a 9,000-square-foot waterfront mansion on Key Biscayne, apartments in New York and Los Angeles and a condominium in Telluride, Colo.

“Robles sought out clients who were dying and cheated them out of millions of dollars so that he could finance his own extravagant lifestyle,” U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said.

Robles apologized for his actions.