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Ethics/Professional Responsibility

Jul. 22, 2026

Ex-Manhattan Beach lawyer pleads guilty to stealing clients' funds to feed gambling addiction

Sergio Valdovinos Ramirez pleaded guilty to stealing more than $300,000 in client funds to finance a gambling addiction and faces a two-year prison sentence, as legal ethics experts say California's post-Girardi trust-account reforms have made it harder for lawyers to conceal financial misconduct. 

A former Manhattan Beach attorney who admitted stealing more than $300,000 from clients to finance a gambling addiction is expected to receive a two-year state prison sentence, a case legal ethics experts say highlights both the profession's strict stance on client funds and California's tougher trust-account oversight following the Tom Girardi scandal.

Sergio Valdovinos Ramirez, 36, pleaded guilty July 20 to three felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement and one felon...

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