A former Tampa attorney is accused of pocketing more than 1.5 million dollars from the dead, disabled people, and even charities.
David Whigham lost his law license last year after the Florida Bar reviewed the claims against him.
After a long investigation, the FDLE got a warrant for his arrest on Tuesday, charging him with 22 felony counts including grand theft and organized scheme to defraud.
According to court records, Whigham’s clients started to notice money missing from their trust funds. In some cases, the money wasn’t dispersed to the proper charities and in other cases it just disappeared.
One of his former clients, the trustees for the Emily Pike Trust Fund — a mentally disabled child in Claremont — decided to sue Whigham after losing nearly a half million dollars.
Late last year, a judge ordered the former attorney to pay them back that amount.
Whigham was given a chance to explain himself, but didn’t have much to say, according to a 30-page deposition.
He plead the fifth on nearly every question.
