Embezzling Bayside Lawyer Avoids Prison

A  from a Milwaukee law firm won't be seeing the inside of a jail cell much, even though he pleaded guilty to theft in a business setting. 

Brian Mularski, 37, was charged with two counts of embezzlement in July, but struck a plea deal with prosecutors to have one of the counts dismissed. He was sentenced Jan. 7, according to online court records.

Mularski was sentenced to five years of probation, with one year on work release at the Milwaukee County House of Correction. However, if he violates the terms of his probation, he could go to prison for five years and spend an additional five years on extended supervision in the community. He is scheduled to appear at a restitution hearing slated for Feb. 15. 

According to the criminal complaint, while Mularski was employed as an attorney at Eisenberg, Riley & Zimmerman, S.C. he stole $737,172 from the firm over three years by depositing checks meant for vendors into his personal bank account.

In January 2006, Mularski opened up a bank account in the name Mularski Law Office and began depositing checks into the account meant for vendors. By the end of the year, he had taken $179,000, according to court documents. 

In 2007 he deposited 85 checks from the law firm into the account and collected another $240,000 that year. He also wrote out four other checks that year from the firm for personal use, making a total loss to the business at nearly $255,000 for the year, a criminal complaint said. 

Then in 2008, Mularski deposited another 70 checks to the account for a total loss of $291,847 that year.

The theft came to light after the firm’s office manager was contacted by insurance companies while Mularski was on vacation, saying they never received payments. The manager traced the missing money back to Mularski, who was confronted when he returned to work. He said he wasn’t sure why the money was deposited into his account and would look into the matter, according to court documents.