Former Atlanta real estate attorney pleads guilty to stealing from clients, Justice Department says

ATLANTA — A former Atlanta real estate lawyer pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his clients through a scheme to defraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

According to USDOJ, Matthew Allen Dickason accepted funds on behalf of clients who were trying to buy real estate, but instead of using the money for those purchases, he paid off his own debts and expenses.

Officials said Dickason ended up “misappropriating millions of dollars belong to his clients for his personal benefit.”

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Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said Dickason’s law firm specialized in real estate law. Dickason’s firm oversaw hundreds of real estate sales transactions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, according to USAO.

“The majority of the misappropriated funds were used to pay his law firm’s operating expenses,” USDOJ said, explaining how Dickason’s “scheme” worked. “After misappropriating client funds, he used new client funds to complete prior real estate transactions.”

Then, to hide his fraud, USDOJ said Dickason fabricated information and uploaded it to his law firm’s accounting system to look like the firm had paid off a mortgage, while instead the funds were being used by Dickason for other, personal needs.

Some of the funds were also spent on paying the law firm’s operating expenses, rather than the transactions the money was meant for.

“Wire fraud is an offense that the FBI takes very seriously, especially when innocent victims are being defrauded. In this case, it is especially troubling that the crime was orchestrated by a lawyer who swore an oath to uphold the law and represent his clients with integrity,” Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said. “Dickason was in debt through his own fault and chose to steal from his clients and firm to pay back that debt and finance his business. Now he will pay back his debt to society in prison.”

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“We remain steadfast in our commitment to working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate those who threaten HUD programs,” U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Jerome Winkle said in a statement. “The criminal actions by this former attorney violated his clients’ trust and his oath to uphold the law. His actions put many taxpayer-insured FHA mortgages at risk of default through his scheme.”

USAO said Dickason pled guilty to wire fraud, with sentencing scheduled for Jan. 17, 2024.

The case is still under investigation by multiple federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General, officials said.

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