Case 1:16-cr-00136-jgm Document 1 Filed 10/13/16 Page 1 of 4

U~S. O!STRICT COIU.f!I

llf;TfUCT Of VEI\Mell'
F~LED

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE
DISTRICT OF VERMONT

21f' OCT 13 AH 10: 55

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Crim. No.

v.
WILLIAM M. O'BRIEN,
Defendant.

(18

u.s.c.

l ', \ \o- c.R.- t ~\o

1341)

INFORMATION

The United States Attorney charges:

1.

At all times material to this information, the

defendant WILLIAM M. O'BRIEN was an attorney licensed to

practice in the courts of Vermont.
2.

In or about 2001, the Chittenden County Probate Court

appointed O'BRIEN trustee of the Thelma F. Provost Trust.

In

his capacity as trustee, O'BRIEN had a fiduciary duty to

administer the Trust in accordance with the law and in the best
interests of the Trust.

A major responsibility of the trustee

was to make suitable charitable contributions of Trust funds in

the memory of Thelma and Joseph Provost.

Between 2008 and 2013,

O'BRIEN made 16 charitable contributions of Trust funds totaling

$97,500.
3.

Between 2007 and 2015, O'BRIEN improperly diverted

approximately $270,000 in Provost Trust funds to his own

Case 1:16-cr-00136-jgm Document 1 Filed 10/13/16 Page 2 of 4

benefit.

He did this by writing checks payable to his law firm,

which were drawn against the Provost Trust checking account, in

amounts that greatly exceeded the legal fees he had earned by
performing work on behalf of the Trust.

O'BRIEN then used these

moneys from his law firm account for his own benefit.
4.

In the course of defrauding the Thelma F. Provost

Trust and partly in an effort to conceal his misuse of Trust

funds, O'BRIEN mailed incomplete and misleading reports and
documentation to the Probate Court.
5.

O'BRIEN served as an attorney for Paul Bonnette, who

died in March 2011, and Paul's wife Blanche, who died in

September 2012.

In July 2011, O'BRIEN received a $150,000 check

drawn against an account of the Bonnettes.

The check was

intended to be a gift by the Bonnettes to a charitable

organization they had designated.

In October 2012, O'BRIEN

received a check for $97,595.14 which represented proceeds from

the sale of real property owned by the Bonnettes.

O'BRIEN

deposited both the $150,000 check and the $97,595.14 check in

his attorney trust account.

In 2014, O'BRIEN issued a $15,000

check from his trust account as a charitable contribution by the

Bonnettes to a local charitable organization.

O'BRIEN used the

remainder of the Bonnettes' funds to benefit himself.

6.

Between 2013 and 2015, O'BRIEN served as co-counsel on

a large estate matter he had undertaken on a contingency-fee

2

Case 1:16-cr-00136-jgm Document 1 Filed 10/13/16 Page 3 of 4

basis.

In 2015, the case settled.

In late December 2015 and

early January 2016, O'BRIEN received two payments, totaling

$876,001.15, as his share of the contingency fee in the case.
On or about January 6, 2016, O'BRIEN used some of this fee money
to make a $240,000 deposit into the account of the Provost
Trust.

On or about January 8, 2016, O'BRIEN used $232,500 of

the fee money to make two charitable contributions on behalf of

the Bonnettes.
7.

On January 12, 2016, the Vermont Supreme Court issued

an order suspending O'BRIEN'S license to practice law.

Case 1:16-cr-00136-jgm Document 1 Filed 10/13/16 Page 4 of 4

COUNT 1

8.

On or about the dates listed below, in the District of

Vermont, the defendant WILLIAM M. O'BRIEN, having devised the

above-described scheme and artifice to defraud the Thelma F.
Provost Trust and Paul and Blanche Bonnette, and to obtain money
from the Trust and the Bonnettes by means of materially false
and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and for
the purpose of executing such scheme, caused the following
matter to be sent or delivered by the United States mail:
APPROXIMATE DATE

MAIL MATTER

February 20, 2012

October 30, 2012
November 3, 2015

Letter report to Probate Court

Letter report to Probate Court
Tax certification to Probate Court
(18

u.s.c.

ERIC S. MILLER (GLW)

United States Attorney
Burlington, Vermont
October 13, 2016

1341)