Attorney Allegedly Stole $1.8M Trust Fund for Gambling

According to a civil lawsuit filed by the beneficiaries of a trust fund, a Florida lawyer allegedly stole $1.8 million of it and gambled it away at Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, Florida.

There have been other gambling-related crimes lately, too, including stolen gaming machines in Alabama. 

The Lawyer Named in the Suit

The lawyer named in the suit is Jason Pendrod, the owner of Family Elder Law. Three of its branches recently closed. These were located in Lake Wales, Lakeland, and Sebring in July. All locations were in Florida. 

The lawsuit was brought by the surviving children, Charles Anderson and Sherry Prevoznik, of David D. Anderson, a man who lived in Pennsylvania. They said that Penrod confessed to depleting the trust fund to gamble. The suit was filed on Aug. 21 in the Circuit Court for the 10th Judicial Circuit in Bartow. 

Penrod Speaks Out

“I would gamble until I exhausted our family’s savings, my law firm’s profits; all the while avoiding reality and any type of feeling (which is the only way I can explain not fearing the consequences of my irrational and immoral behavior),” Penrod allegedly wrote in the letter, a copy of which was filed in court. “And then, once I received more money, I would gamble and lose those monies.”

Penrod was hired by Anderson in 2014 to draft a living trust. Anderson passed in 2021, and Penrod was named the designated successor trustee, with the children as beneficiaries. 

The son, Charles Anderson, met with Penrod in June to discuss the trust, and that’s when Penrod passed him the note of confession. He said that he transferred money from Oct. 2023 to Jan. 2024 into his personal account. He planned to view it as a loan with interest but realized he couldn’t pay it back.

Penrod Asking for “Disciplinary Revocation”

Amid this lawsuit, Penrod is asking the Florida Supreme Court to grant “disciplinary revocation.” If Penrod is granted this, he’d be unable to practice law but could seek to apply for readmission to the Florida Bar to resume his career. However, this wouldn’t protect him from criminal prosecution. 

He did this because he felt this was the only way he could ever repay the money. 

“I humbly ask that you allow me to continue to work and pay you back,” Penrod wrote in the letter. “This is obviously self-serving, since it keeps me from going to prison and allows me to be with my family. And while I know God’s grace is real, as I wouldn’t be here were it not, I cannot control […] whether you forgive me.”