Rancho Santa Fe accountant admits to hiding yacht, silver in bankruptcy case, evading $6M in taxes

Sept. 12--An accountant and disbarred San Diego attorney who once claimed to lead one of the nation's most prestigious estate and tax planning law firms has pleaded guilty to hiding $1.5 million in assets from creditors in his bankruptcy case and evading $6 million in taxes.

J. Douglass Jennings Jr., who sometimes went by "Uncle Doug," pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court on Monday to bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The 72-year-old Rancho Santa Fe man was disbarred last year due to misconduct involving an elderly client who inherited $3 million.

According to the State Bar, Jennings convinced the client to invest in certain properties and did not inform him that Jennings and his wife would acquire the properties. The client also made unsecured loans to a fund that Jennings owned, but the client was not informed of the full terms. Similar loans were made to a real estate investment company owned by Jennings and his wife, the bar said.

The entities defaulted on the loans and Jennings declared personal bankruptcy. Jennings' malpractice insurer repaid the client about $1.7 million.

"Jennings showed a continuing lack of remorse or insight into the misconduct that significantly harmed his client," the State Bar said.

The criminal charges stem from Jennings' handling of the bankruptcy case beginning in 2010, in which he concealed assets: a stock interest in a real-estate deal worth $1 million; a 53-foot luxury yacht named "Sea Eagle" worth $150,000; and antique silver worth $165,000, prosecutors said.

He also owed the Internal Revenue Service about $2.85 million for 2005 to 2009. He at first agreed to pay the amount, as well as a civil penalty of $2 million and $1 million in interest. But he then worked to evade the payment through the concealment of assets in his bankruptcy case, prosecutors said.

As a result of his plea agreement he admitted that a criminal judgment of nearly $6 million should be entered against him.

Last month, Jennings' wife, Peggy, 72, pleaded guilty in a related but separate case, admitting to forging her mother's signature on loan documents, submitting false documents to a bank, and depositing money into her mother's account to make it appear as though she had a large income. Her actions caused the bank to lose about $226,000.

She has agreed to pay about $145,000 restitution to the bank and a $50,000 fine.

Jennings made headlines in 1985 after he entered into another business transaction, a laundromat, with a client and was ordered to pay $1.1 million in a legal malpractice lawsuit.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis

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