Ex-Mississippi Attorney Who Forged Claims Check Faces $914K in Restitution

The U.S. government is seeking $914,162 in restitution unpaid by a former Mississippi attorney convicted in a tax and mail fraud case in 2009.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that prosecutors filed a payment affidavit this week in U.S. District Court in Oxford. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock has scheduled an April 2 hearing in Aberdeen for William “Bill” Catledge to explain why the money hasn’t been paid.

Catledge pleaded guilty in June of 2009 to three counts of lying about his income to the Internal Revenue Service and to endorsing, depositing and using a claim advance mailed for an individual client. He was sentenced to two concurrent 35-month prison terms.

Catledge also was ordered him to pay restitution of $731,732, which will go to the IRS for back taxes, and $93,039 to Chubb Insurance Co. of Dallas and $89,000 for M&F Bank of Tupelo.

Payment of the money was part of the terms of his sentence, as was his participation in a prison drug rehabilitation program.

Catledge permanently surrendered his law license in 2009.