EAST ST. LOUIS - Jason Caraway of Belleville, who the Supreme Court suspended for spending money that belonged to clients, seeks to change his plea on wire fraud charges.
Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel posted notice on Oct. 9 that she would hear a change of plea on Oct. 17.
Grand jurors indicted Caraway last December, finding he defrauded his firm and clients.
The Supreme Court had suspended him three months earlier for a year and until further order.
Grand jurors found he transferred money from client trust accounts to his firm’s operating account and spent it on personal and business expenses.
They found he accepted settlements without notifying clients or disbursing their shares; failed to pay holders of medical liens; made lulling payments from the firm’s account to conceal misappropriations made false statements and forged court orders and signed checks to himself.
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison arraigned Caraway on Jan. 3, released him on bond and set trial in March.
The clerk randomly assigned Rosenstengel.
In February, Caraway’s counsel Daniel Fultz of Springfield moved to continue the trial.
“The parties are trying to resolve the case short of a trial," he wrote.
He wrote that assistant U.S. attorney Steven Weinhoedt didn’t oppose the motion.
Rosenstengel continued it to May, then to July, and then to Oct. 29.
Caraway’s former malpractice carrier Berkley Insurance claims it keeps finding victims.
Berkley sued Caraway at district court in May 2023, seeking a declaration that its policy didn’t cover Caraway’s conduct.
Procedural rules require Berkley to name Caraway’s victims as defendants and it amended its complaint twice to add victims and subtract those who settled.
On Oct. 7 Berkley counsel Jeremy Macklin of Chicago advised District Judge Staci Yandle he’d move to amend again.
“Identifying Caraway’s victims has presented a challenge because an insurance company only receives information from those who know about the policy," Macklin wrote.
He claimed he learned last week that the attorney registration and disciplinary commission awarded relief to certain victims through a client protection program.
He claimed Berkley learned of 14 more victims and of payments the commission made subject to a right of reimbursement against Caraway.
He claimed Caraway requested that the relief orders be added to this lawsuit.
He claimed Berkley is examining the impact of the orders and what is necessary in an amended pleading to take his request into account.
He claimed Berkley hasn’t concluded whether it must add the commission as defendant.
He claimed Berkley settled with Terri Harmon, Robert Carlile, Sherri Kaleff, Melissa Gordon, Amy Wolf, and Raymond and Debra Kaczur.