Friday, October 30, 2009

False travel claims


A very sad ending to one's career.

Mr. Alvarado is a former State Representative I believe.

I do not recall why he was originally disbarred.


Ex-lawyer admits to bogus claims

A former lawyer who worked for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid as a paralegal pleaded guilty Thursday to making more than $430,000 in fraudulent travel-reimbursement claims.

Leo G. Alvarado, who worked for the agency and a predecessor from 1992 to 2006, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of mail fraud for submitting false claims for mileage and per-diem reimbursement.

He claimed he had visited several of the organization’s clients to help them fill out their Veterans Affairs Department claims. In reality, the people he claimed to have visited were dead, did not exist or were not even clients of the TRLA, previously known as the Texas Rural Legal Aid. It provides legal services to the poor.

The rest of the story: