Federal jury rules on attorney who allegedly duped Dustin Johnson out of $3 million

A federal jury has determined that millions of dollars spent by Dustin Johnson’s former attorney on women, gambling and private jet travel were acquired illegally.

Nathan “Nat” Hardwick has been convicted of embezzling $26 million from his now-bankrupt residential real estate closing firm Morris Hardwick Schneider, of which he owned more than 55 percent.

Johnson was also apparently duped by Hardwick, who it appears tried to use $3 million from the PGA Tour star and Coastal Carolina alumnus to cover shortages in his firm’s accounts.

A 12-person jury convicted Hardwick on Friday of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 21 counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to federally insured banks.

Hardwick, 53, had been out on bond prior to the trial but was taken into custody after the verdict.

According to reporting by Law.com, prosecutor J. Russell Phillips told judge Eleanor Ross that the government would ask for a sentence of roughly 15 years.

According to Law.com, Hardwick testified on Oct. 9 that he thought the funds he received from the firm’s then-controller, Asha Maurya, were legitimately due to him as the majority owner and were coming from available cash in the firm’s operating accounts.

But withdrawals were being made from the firm’s escrow accounts that held money in trust for the firm’s clients.

Fidelity National Title Insurance Company poured almost $30 million into the firm’s escrow accounts to protect consumers after the shortfalls were discovered in August 2014, Law.com reported.

Maurya was arrested with Hardwick and was named a co-conspirator, and Hardwick’s defense team, led by Ed Garland of Garland Samuel & Loeb, argued that Maurya was the culprit of the shortfalls.

But Maurya admitted to stealing $900,000 from the firm, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and cooperated with the government in Hardwick’s trial.

According to Law.com, prosecutors told the jury that Morris Hardwick Schneider equity partners were supposed to only get payouts from the firm’s net income, which totaled nearly $10 million from 2011-13, according to the firm’s audited financial statements.

Johnson, 33, filed a lawsuit against Hardwick, partners Mark Wittstadt and brother Gerard Wittstadt, and their Atlanta-based law firm in October 2014 and reached a settlement in 2016.

Johnson initially claimed in the suit that the defendants conspired to bilk him of $3 million with a fabricated story about an investment opportunity to actually cover shortages in the operating and trust accounts of their firm and the affiliated LandCastle Title company. The shortages were allegedly caused by misappropriations.

Johnson, who described Hardwick in his suit as an officer in his corporation and one of the primary advisers in his pro golf career, amended his suit to claim he believed Hardwick was used as a “pawn” by the Wittstadts to scam him of the $3 million.

The embattled law firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2015, and Johnson reached a settlement for at least $2 million that had to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

Jurors in Hardwick’s trial in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia deliberated for nine hours over two days after 12 days of witness testimony.

That testimony included details of Hardwick’s lavish spending.

Prosecutors claimed Hardwick spent nearly $4 million on three women, including Katrena Corcoran of Nebraska, who testified she met Hardwick online in 2008 via SugarDaddy.com.

Corcoran testified that Hardwick arranged private jet charters for her trips to Disney World and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., gave her a credit card to use and gifts including a car, clothes, shoes and makeup. She said the last time she saw Hardwick was in 2014 in New Orleans, where he left her about $1,500 in cash at the hotel desk when she arrived and gave her another $10,000 in cash before she left.

Other alleged expenditures described in testimony include more than $7 million at casinos, more than $3 million with a bookie, $680,000 for a luxury condo at The St. Regis Atlanta, $273,000 on a diamond ring for ex-fiancée Heather Inman, $186,000 on a deposit for a party on a private island, and $635,000 on a trip to the 2014 British Open for golfing buddies that included a customized jet and round at St. Andrews.

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 6:22 PM.