{"id":329634,"date":"2024-09-04T17:57:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T22:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=329634"},"modified":"2024-09-05T10:01:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T15:01:50","slug":"hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Claims Attorney Stole $1.8M from Client’s Trust Fund, Gambled Money Away at Hard Rock Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Florida lawyer ransacked a client\u2019s trust account and blew $1.8 million of it gambling at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the real beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

\"Hard
Jason Penrod, above, has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a client\u2019s account. He wants the chance to repay the money by continuing to work as a lawyer in the future, he says. (Image: The Ledger\/Casino.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jason Penrod is the owner of Family Elder Law, which closed its three branches without warning in Lake Wales, Fla., Lakeland, Fla., and Sebring, Fla. in July, The Ledger<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\n

This was probably because Penrod was facing disciplinary action from the Florida Bar and realized his life was unraveling. That same month, Penrod confessed in a letter to one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against him that he had gambled away the money. He described himself as \u201ca raging addict\u201d in the letter, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“I would gamble until I exhausted our family’s savings, my law firm’s profits; all the while avoiding reality and any type of feeling (which is the only way I can explain not fearing the consequences of my irrational and immoral behavior),\u201d Penrod allegedly wrote in the letter, a copy of which was filed in court. \u201cAnd then, once I received more money, I would gamble and lose those monies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Traumatic Stress\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Penrod was hired in 2014 to draft a living trust for a client named David D. Anderson, who died in 2021. Penrod was a designated successor trustee. Anderson\u2019s children, Charles Anderson and Sherry Prevoznik, the plaintiffs in the case, were sole beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

Charles Anderson met with Penrod in June to discuss winding down the administration of the trust, at which point Penrod passed Anderson the confessional letter he had written, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

In it, he admits that from October 2023 to January 2024, he transferred money from the trust into his personal account until it was depleted, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\n

Penrod blamed his actions on \u201cpost-traumatic stress endured from childhood experiences\u201d that had taken over \u201cvarious facets of my life, particularly my mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He viewed these transactions as temporary loans that he would pay back with interest, he claimed. But he soon began to realize he would not be able to repay the money and \u201chit rock bottom,\u201d understanding that he would lose his license to practice law and go to prison, according to the letter filed in court.<\/p>\n

Shot at Redemption<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Penrod has filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court asking it to grant \u201cdisciplinary revocation.\u201d If granted, this would terminate his privilege to practice law while allowing him to retain the option of later applying for readmission to the Florida Bar to resume his legal career.<\/p>\n

It would also mean that the Florida Bar\u2019s disciplinary action against him would be dismissed, but it would not, of course, protect him from any criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

He said chose this route because he believes his ability to work in the future is the only shot he has to repay the money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI humbly ask that you allow me to continue to work and pay you back,\u201d Penrod wrote in the letter. \u201cThis is obviously self-serving, since it keeps me from going to prison and allows me to be with my family. And while I know God’s grace is real, as I wouldn’t be here were it not, I cannot control [\u2026] whether you forgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Florida lawyer ransacked a client\u2019s trust account and blew $1.8 million of it gambling at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the real beneficiaries. Jason Penrod is the owner of Family Elder Law, which closed its three branches without warning in Lake Wales, Fla., Lakeland, Fla., and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":329635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60,86436],"tags":[92231,92230,92228,92229],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-04T22:57:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-05T15:01:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"691\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/\",\"name\":\"Hard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-04T22:57:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-05T15:01:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":691,\"caption\":\"Jason Penrod, above, has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a client\u2019s account. He wants the chance to repay the money by continuing to work as a lawyer in the future, he says. (Image: The Ledger\/Casino.org)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Regional News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Southeast\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/southeast\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Lawsuit Claims Attorney Stole $1.8M from Client’s Trust Fund, Gambled Money Away at Hard Rock Tampa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer","description":"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer","og_description":"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-09-04T22:57:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-05T15:01:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":691,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/","name":"Hard Rock Tampa Sole Beneficiary of $1.8M Trust Fund Stolen by Lawyer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-04T22:57:30+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-05T15:01:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Jason Penrod has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a trust fund and blowing it all at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, per lawsuit.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Jase2.jpg","width":1000,"height":691,"caption":"Jason Penrod, above, has admitted stealing $1.8 million from a client\u2019s account. He wants the chance to repay the money by continuing to work as a lawyer in the future, he says. (Image: The Ledger\/Casino.org)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-tampa-sole-beneficiary-of-1-8m-trust-fund-stolen-by-lawyer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Regional News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Southeast","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/regional-news\/southeast\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Lawsuit Claims Attorney Stole $1.8M from Client’s Trust Fund, Gambled Money Away at Hard Rock Tampa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329679,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329634\/revisions\/329679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}