Former Kansas City lawyer sentenced for role in a $1.2 million fraud against St. Luke’s

A former Kansas City lawyer was sentenced Friday to one year in prison for conspiring with his former law partner to steal money from St. Luke’s Health System.

Mark J. Schultz was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Kansas City where he pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.

His former law partner, Alan B. Gallas, previously pleaded guilty and was also sentenced to serve one year in prison.

Gallas was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.2 million.

Schultz was ordered to pay $400,500 in restitution.

St. Luke’s Health System was a client of the law firm of Gallas & Schultz, which was founded in 1992.

The firm collected money from patients who were behind on payments to the hospital system. That money was supposed to be placed in a trust account, and periodically the money was forwarded to St. Luke’s.

But between 2009 and 2015, Gallas directed that more than $1.2 million collected for St. Luke’s be transferred to the law firm’s operating account, according to court documents.

Schultz admitted in his plea agreement that he conspired to withhold some of those payments from January 2014 until July 2015.

This story was originally published July 7, 2017 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Former Kansas City lawyer sentenced for role in a $1.2 million fraud against St. Luke’s."