BOSTON — A Lexington attorney was sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzling over $3.5 million from multiple Massachusetts residents, including two relatives.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, on Oct. 8, 2025, David Smerling, 75, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to nine years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of $3,534,316 and forfeiture.
In June 2025, Smerling pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
“Smerling was sentenced in connection with three separate schemes. Between January 2016 and May 2020, Smerling worked as a bookkeeper for three Massachusetts companies and embezzled more than $2.8 million from the companies and their owner,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement. “He did so by transferring funds first to a bank account owned by one of the victims that Smerling controlled before moving the money to bank accounts in his own name, or directly from the companies’ accounts to bank accounts in his own name. Smerling concealed his scheme by changing the mailing address on victims’ bank statements to his home address and refusing to share the online banking password for the victims’ accounts.”
In April 2020, a victim discovered that Smerling had transferred $350,000 from one of the companies to himself without authorization. After returning the funds, he changed the banking passwords and transferred another $350,000 to himself.
“Between May 2020 and August 2021, Smerling embezzled more than $475,000 from a trust established for the benefit of a relative with special needs for which Smerling served as the trustee,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement. “Smerling transferred trust funds to bank accounts he controlled before sending the funds to bank accounts in his wife’s name or using the funds to pay for personal expenses. He concealed his scheme by making lulling payments to the beneficiary so he would not discover the trust had been depleted.”
Between May 2023 and April 2025, Smerling embezzled more than $175,000 from a relative with dementia for whom he served as financial power of attorney, including while he was on pretrial release following his January 2025 arrest in this case.
“Smerling transferred funds from the victim’s accounts to accounts he controlled, used a credit card in the victim’s name for personal purchases and took out a loan in the victim’s name,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement. “To conceal this scheme, Smerling misrepresented the purpose of the transfers to the financial institutions in which the victim’s accounts were held.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit.
