Leawood, Kansas, attorney Mark J. Schultz has been disbarred by order of the Missouri Supreme Court following a guilty plea on conspiracy allegations that he and his former law partner tried to steal money from an area health care facility.
The state court handed down its disbarment order against Schultz Aug. 8 following his guilty plea to one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City. Schultz's law license had been suspended by the high court May 4.
Schultz pleaded guilty Feb. 10 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City on a conspiracy charge over allegations he and his former law partner, Alan B. Gallas, tried to steal money from St. Luke’s Health System in the same city. Gallas, voluntarily surrendered his law license and later was disbarred in two states following a Nov. 18, 2015, Missouri Supreme Court and an Oct. 21, 2015, Kansas Supreme Court orders.
Gallas, former president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation, waived his right to a grand jury and entered a guilty plea to mail fraud in April 2016, admitting to defrauding more than $1.2 million from St. Luke's from 2009 to July 2015. Gallas agreed to repaying the amount defrauded as restitution as part of his plea agreement.
Schultz also waived his right to a grand jury and in his guilty plea on wire fraud and mail fraud conspiracy, according to a Missouri U.S. Attorney's Office news release. Schultz admitted he participated in the conspiracy with Gallas from January 2014 through July 2015 and, under the terms of his plea agreement, forfeited any property he derived from the proceeds of the wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, according to the press release.
Schultz and Gallas were partners at Gallas & Shultz in Kansas City, a law firm that specialized in collection work for corporations and Gallas was responsible for St. Luke’s account at Gallas & Shultz, according to the news release. "As payments on patient accounts were received, the payments were logged into the case management system for the appropriate patient account," the news release said. "The monies were then deposited into the law firm’s trust account."