Louisville attorney, wife sentenced to prison for defrauding clients out of $500,000+

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Andrew and Christel Clooney were both sentenced to 33 and 27 months in prison, respectively, for defrauding two dozen clients.

On Thursday morning, Andrew told the judge inside the Snyder Federal Courthouse his business was falling behind in 2017, then his son died, which led him and his wife to defraud 24 different victims. At the time, Christel Clooney was the law firm’s office manager.

Andrew claimed he was suffering from alcoholism while Christel said she was dealing with a gambling addiction. One of their victims spoke at the sentencing hearing.

”He’s not a bad person he just did a bad thing,” Jessica Vincent told WAVE News after the hearing. “I hope they do want to make it right. I hope that this is something that changes their feelings on doing something like this again. It’s a ripple effect. It affected a lot of people.”

Vincent said she’s still owed $82,000 from the Clooney. She said it’s vital that she gets some of it back to pay for a handful of surgeries she’s had to get since getting in a head-on accident with a commercial vehicle.

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