TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A former Tallahassee based attorney pled guilty to a federal offense Thursday.
Jason R. Coody, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced Thursday 62-year-old Phillip Timothy Howard of Tallahassee pled guilty to racketeering (RICO).
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6 at 9 a.m. in the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee.
Howard faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the offense and a maximum term of three years of supervised release following any prison sentence.
Court documents note between Dec. 2015 and Jan. 2018, Howard, who was a Florida attorney along with others, were employed at Howard’s law firm Howard and Associates, P.A. and multiple investment companies.
The U.S. Attorney’s news release said during that time, Howard and others knowingly, willfully and unlawfully conducted and participated in racketeering that includes wire fraud and money laundering.
Howard engaged in the illegal activity through multiple acts of wire fraud while representing former National Football League (NFL) players in a class-action lawsuit.
The players were eligible for settlement payments from the NFL.
Howard enticed his clients to invest their retirement funds with his investment companies, but Howard did not disclose and misrepresented to the players who invested the structure of the enterprise, the conflict of interest and criminal background of the people associated with or employed by the enterprise.
Howard is accused of not informing the investors that almost none of the investment funds yielded a return and the funds were used to operate his law firm to provide payroll for his staff, pay his mortgage and enrich Howard.
The government said Howard provided inaccurate investment statements to the investors as Howard obtained more than $4 million in the scheme.
Howard was formally charged by a federal grand jury with racketeering in Dec. 2022.
The Florida Supreme Court issued an order March 24, 2022 that Howard was prohibited from practicing law in Florida, pay $266,830.28 in restitution to the estate of Jason Hall and pay back the Florida Bar $15,499.70.
