Former attorney sentenced for fraud and embezzlement

A former Tulsa attorney has been sentenced in Tulsa County District Court to 10 years in prison for embezzling more than $1 million in clients’ benefits, Attorney General Scott Pruitt said Tuesday.   

William Anton, under a plea agreement, received four consecutive sentences totaling 35 years, with 25 years suspended. He was ordered to pay $702,813 in restitution.

In March, Anton pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzlement and one count for workers’ compensation fraud.

The Attorney General’s office filed charges against Anton in 2009, alleging he embezzled money between 2004 and 2009 from clients’ personal injury benefits, insurance settlements and workers’ compensation benefits.

His alleged accomplice in the scheme, Fred Schraeder, faces trial Oct. 25 in Tulsa County.  

The Attorney General’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit is the only law enforcement agency in Oklahoma dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of workers’ compensation fraud.  The Unit also helps raise public awareness of fraud across the state.