A disbarred Irvine-based attorney pleaded not guilty Thursday to grand theft and money laundering.
William Jay King of San Juan Capistrano was charged with two counts of grand theft and 16 counts of money laundering, all felonies, with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime exceeding $500,000.
King was disbarred in 2021 for misappropriation of the funds of his clients.
King took $87,034.68 from one client’s trust fund account and put it in his personal accounts, Irvine police said in court papers.
In another client’s case, $421,784.85 from the sale of a residence was stolen, police said. The total loss in both cases was $508,819.53, police alleged.
King “has a history of misusing entrusted funds and was disbarred” in April 2021, police said.
“Based upon King’s bank records, he has a pattern of co-mingling the entrusted client account funds with his personal and business accounts, then receives money from a new case to pay the prior designations if possible,” police alleged.
“King has two prior bankruptcies and several tax judgments,” police said.
King was next due in court for a pretrial hearing Sept. 13 in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.