SoCal lawyer who squandered settlement money on day trading sentenced to prison

SoCal lawyer sentenced in day trading fraud scheme

LOS ANGELES — An Irvine lawyer has been sentenced to 1½ years in prison for misappropriating more than $2 million he won for clients he represented in a class-action lawsuit but squandered in day trading.

Forty-year-old Sandeep Baweja was also ordered to serve three years probation Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court. During his sentencing hearing Baweja apologized for being greedy and failing as a lawyer.

He pleaded guilty in January to federal wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

In 2007, the lawyer won a $3.5 million settlement with a real estate company but failed to distribute the money among the plaintiffs. He later transferred the money into his own stock brokerage account, which sunk soon after.

He is to begin serving his sentence on Aug. 16.