Southbury Estate Attorney Gets Prison For Stealing From Client

SOUTHBURY, CT — Southbury attorney Robert Barry, 78, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for stealing from his elderly client trust accounts.

Barry was a partner at Sturges and Mathes, a law firm that specialized in estate and trust work. He schemed to defraud an elderly victim who was still alive staring in June 2010 until around December 2015, according to the U.S. Attorney District of Connecticut office. He then stole from the victim's estate after he died.

Barry stole more than $2.4 million from the victim and his estate. He also hid excess fees by underreporting the amount of the victim's estate by about $937,000.

Barry was ordered to pay more than $2.44 million in restitution to the victim's estate and $1.5 million to beneficiaries of other estate clients. Barry pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in September 2018. He was ordered to report to prison on Sept. 3, 2019.