Phony lawyer sentenced in ND to 4 years in prison

BISMARCK, N.D. — A man accused of impersonating a lawyer in at least 10 states has been sentenced to more than four years in prison and ordered to repay more than $150,000 to clients around the country.

A Bismarck jury convicted Howard O. Kieffer in April on charges of mail fraud and false statements. Authorities said Kieffer lied on his application to practice law in federal court, but still represented such clients as a former St. Louis Blues hockey player who pleaded guilty to plotting to kill his agent.

Kieffer, 54, of Duluth, Minn., did not speak and showed no emotion when sentenced Friday.

His attorney, Joshua Lowther, of Savannah, Ga., said he expects to appeal.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Conmy approved prosecutors’ recommendation that Kieffer serve four years and three months in prison and pay restitution totaling $152,750 to clients in five criminal cases since 2007.

At Kieffer’s trial, two witnesses told the jury they each paid Kieffer at least $20,000 to appeal prison sentences for their loved ones, only to find out later that he wasn’t a lawyer. One of Kieffer’s former clients, a Colorado woman found guilty of hiring a hit man, is appealing her case based on his conviction.

“The payments were made by desperate people facing desperate decisions and shattered lives,” Conmy said.

He acknowledged the restitution order was probably a “feel good, meaningless gesture,” since the likelihood of Kieffer repaying the entire amount is low.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hagler said Kieffer also owes the Internal Revenue Service about $2 million after a conviction for filing false tax returns two decades ago. Court records show Kieffer was convicted of theft and filing false tax returns and served time in a federal prison from 1989 to 1992.

Hagler and Lowther said they did not know whether Kieffer would be charged in other states.

He was charged in North Dakota last year after one of his clients, a man accused of child pornography, wrote to a federal judge in Bismarck, raising questions about whether Kieffer had ever been a licensed attorney.

Kieffer was the director of Federal Defense Associates in Santa Ana, Calif., and ran an Internet discussion group on federal prison and sentencing issues. He has been quoted in publications as an expert and has spoken at seminars, authorities said.

Lowther said most of Kieffer’s work came from referrals by legitimate attorneys. The attorneys who testified during his trial that they thought Kieffer was one of their colleagues because he seemed to know about federal court matters and they saw him at attorney training seminars.

Kieffer, who has been on home confinement since he was convicted in April, must report to prison within 30 days. Conmy recommended Kieffer serve his sentence at the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minn.