Where the story of Fort Lauderdale lawyer John Spencer Jenkins aka “Spencer” had come from the land of the lost — lost inheritance, lost law license, lost Jenkins — now, it’s a story of lost and found.

Jenkins remains disbarred, of course, after he disappeared with what the Florida Bar calculated to be at least $612,507 of client’s money. And, the federal indictment against him doesn’t say how much of that money remains within reach and how much is lost. Jenkins himself counts as found after his Sept. 12 arrest in Philadelphia, where an August Herald story indicated he might be.

READ MORE: An attorney misappropriated over $600,000. He’s been disbarred, but not found

Jenkins has been indicted in Fort Lauderdale court on three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. His first appearance in court was scheduled to be Friday, but has been moved to Oct. 18. The court docket doesn’t list an attorney yet for Jenkins.

READ MORE: A former judge, a Coral Gables attorney and a Broward thief among lawyers disciplined

By October 2023, a Broward court had found Jenkins owed a former client $234,000 for neglecting a case so badly the client didn’t learn he’d lost the case until a judgment lien had been placed on his property. Another abandoned client had filed a Bar complaint against Jenkins.

But, the Bar hadn’t heard anything from Jenkins since a May 29, 2023 email. That’s nine days before Jenkins’ last text message to Larry Corbin, Jenkins’ client and the personal representative of former Wilton Manors’ resident William Walters.

READ MORE: A Fort Lauderdale lawyer disappeared owing one client $234,000, another client an inheritance

Before Walters died in October 2021 at the age of 89, he set up his estate to go to Corbin, two of Walters’ nieces and to fund the care of Walters’ sister. Two years later, all any of those Louisville, Kentucky residents had from Jenkins were two years of text messages — Corbin told the Bar that Jenkins would never answer his phone — and questions about where the inheritance was.

A Florida Bar audit determined Jenkins received deposits for Walters’ estate totaling $643,399 into his law firm’s trust account in 2022. That’s normal. The auditor also found that Jenkins moved the money out of the trust bank account to the law firm’s operating bank account. The criminal indictment says Jenkins then moved the money through a third account, movements that brought the money laundering charges.

Subtracting what would’ve been Jenkins’ fees, the Bar determined he misappropriated $612,507.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller is prosecuting the case. The FBI handled the criminal investigation after the Florida Bar

This story was originally published September 30pampawerte, 2024, 9:37 AM.

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