Chris Pettit of San Antonio: Fraud, Sentence, Tossed Plea

Chris Pettit is a former San Antonio attorney who stole somewhere between $20 million and $65 million from clients of his law firm, Chris Pettit & Associates, over more than twenty years by looting the trusts, estates, investments, and real-estate escrows they had placed in his hands. In February 2024, a federal judge sentenced him to 50 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. Two years later, in February 2026, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated that guilty plea and sent the case back to the district court, finding Pettit had been misinformed about the maximum sentence he faced when he pleaded.

What Pettit Did to His Clients

Pettit ran what federal prosecutors described as a Ponzi-type operation out of two San Antonio offices, one on Rustic Lane handling estate planning and another on Huebner Road handling personal injury work.¹ The firm handled living trusts, irrevocable trusts, estate planning, investments, real-estate closings, and personal injury cases, and Pettit held himself out as a qualified intermediary for 1031 real-estate exchanges, a role that put large sums under his control during property sales.²

To clients, he was a trusted family confidant who held educational seminars and offered a one-stop shop for legal and financial needs.¹ Prosecutors said he was quietly moving client funds into accounts he personally controlled, using new deposits to pay off earlier ones, and financing what the Department of Justice called an “extravagant lifestyle.”² Former employees said Pettit kept exclusive control over the firm’s checkbook.

Some clients only learned they had been robbed when account statements began referencing investments that did not exist — bonds issued by nonexistent authorities and stocks the SEC had revoked.³ FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron G. Tapp said Pettit defrauded clients of “millions of dollars, in some cases their life savings.”²

How the Scheme Collapsed

The unraveling started in the spring of 2022. On May 24, Pettit filed to surrender his law license; the Supreme Court of Texas accepted the resignation on June 6, 2022, after the State Bar cited professional misconduct on four grievance complaints.⁴ On June 1, Pettit filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for himself and the firm, listing $27.8 million in personal assets against $115.2 million in debts, with firm assets of no more than $50,000.¹ Creditors soon filed roughly 200 claims totaling about $259 million, indicating Pettit had “grossly understated his liabilities.”³

That September, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta held Pettit in civil contempt for moving furniture, valuables, and his business laptop in violation of a court order barring him from disposing of personal property.⁵ He spent three months in jail before Gargotta released him in early December 2022, once he agreed to surrender his $1.8 million Stone Oak home, roughly $500,000 in retirement accounts, and various life insurance policies to the bankruptcy estate.⁶

The reprieve lasted days. On December 7, 2022, a federal grand jury indicted him on five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. He was denied bond and has been in custody ever since.⁷ The federal investigation had begun with a single victim’s complaint; the Fair Oaks Ranch Police Department was credited with first grasping the scope of the fraud, and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office referred the case to the FBI, which led the probe alongside the Texas State Securities Board and the Texas Department of Public Safety.²

The Guilty Plea, 50-Year Sentence, and Restitution

On October 5, 2023, Pettit pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering; prosecutors dropped the remaining two wire fraud counts. In the plea agreement, he admitted the total loss to victims fell between $20 million and $65 million.²

On February 21, 2024, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentenced the then-56-year-old Pettit to 50 years in federal prison, calling it the “absolute worst white-collar fraud case” he had seen in 30 years on the bench.² When Pettit called his motives “complicated,” Garcia cut him off: “What’s complicated? You either steal or you don’t steal.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Stephenson told the court the explanation was “greed.”⁸

Victim Lorraine Steubing told the court the $65 million figure in the plea agreement was “a very small number compared to what he’s done” and said Pettit had not acted alone: “He paid people. He needs to make restitution on listing the names of the people that helped him.” Garcia said he shared that doubt, telling Pettit, “I cannot believe that you did this all by yourself.”⁸

In December 2024, Garcia ordered Pettit to pay $106.3 million in restitution to 98 former clients. Prosecutors conceded collection was unlikely. “We have no reason to believe there is a pot of money hidden anywhere,” Stephenson said, and lawyers for victims described the chance of any real recovery as “an ice cube’s chance in hell.”⁹

Why the Fifth Circuit Threw Out the Plea

On February 5, 2026, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit — Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, Judge Priscilla Richman, and Judge Don Willett — vacated the guilty plea and returned the case to Judge Garcia. The panel ruled that Garcia had “affirmatively misinformed” Pettit about the maximum penalty he faced when he pleaded.¹⁰

The math was the problem. Each wire fraud count carried up to 20 years and each money laundering count up to 10, so run consecutively the six counts exposed Pettit to 90 years. At the plea hearing the district court instead treated the wire fraud counts as a single 20-year block and the money laundering counts as a single 10-year block, telling Pettit the aggregate maximum was 30 years. The plea agreement repeated that error and the presentence report did not catch it.¹¹

The Fifth Circuit called that a “clear violation” of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b)(1)(H), which requires a court to inform a defendant of the maximum possible penalty before accepting a guilty plea. The panel found a “reasonable probability” that a defendant told he actually faced 90 years rather than 30 might not have entered the plea, which was enough to affect Pettit’s substantial rights.¹¹ Legal experts quoted in reporting described the ruling as returning the criminal case to “square one,” with Pettit free to negotiate a new plea or go to trial.¹⁰

What Victims Are Recovering

With little to collect from Pettit himself, victims have turned to the banks that held his accounts. Roughly 200 former clients sued Wells Fargo, Frost Bank, Texas Partners Bank, American Bank, and Winter Park National Bank in federal court in San Antonio, seeking more than $200 million and alleging the banks knowingly helped Pettit breach his fiduciary duties. That case remains pending.¹²

Bankruptcy trustee Eric Terry brought his own suit against Wells Fargo that settled for more than $1.1 million, approved by Judge Gargotta in January 2025. Wells Fargo did not admit liability.¹³ The trustee’s parallel claims against Frost Bank were dismissed with prejudice as time-barred.¹⁴

The bankruptcy estate itself has produced far less than the roughly $260 million in creditor claims. Pettit’s assets included at least four homes and several office buildings, among them an Alamo Heights property listed near $4 million, a six-bedroom estate on Blackhawk Trail listed near $6 million, and a Florida mansion near Disney World; auctioned personal property ranged from luxury vehicles to Star Wars figures and Lladró porcelain.¹⁵¹⁶ At a December 2025 hearing, Terry told the court a distribution to creditors was coming but “it’ll be a small one.” The bankruptcy is expected to wrap up in 2026, and Judge Gargotta, who has overseen it since June 2022, is scheduled to retire in April 2026, leaving any remaining matters to his successor.¹⁷

Where the Case Stands Now

Pettit is incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.¹⁸ After the Fifth Circuit’s February 2026 decision, his criminal case is back before Judge Garcia in San Antonio, where he can seek a new plea deal or go to trial.¹⁰ Pettit has also given notice that he is appealing the evidentiary basis for the $106.3 million restitution order.¹⁹ The bankruptcy remains open while the trustee finalizes the last pieces of litigation and prepares a distribution that creditors have been warned will be modest against their losses.¹⁷

1
San Antonio Express-News. Clients Considered San Antonio Lawyer Chris Pettit a Friend
2
U.S. Department of Justice. Former San Antonio Lawyer Sentenced to 50 Years for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering
3
San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Fraud Grossly Understated
4
San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio Lawyer Who Allegedly Looted Client Funds Surrenders Law License
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San Antonio Express-News. Ex-Lawyer Chris Pettit Is Sent to Jail After Violating Court Order
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Released From Jail
7
U.S. Department of Justice. Former San Antonio Lawyer Christopher John Pettit Indicted for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Sentencing Hearing
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Ordered to Pay $106.3 Million in Restitution
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Conviction Set Aside by Appeals Court
11
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. United States v. Pettit, No. 24-50250
12
San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Victims Lawsuit Against Five Banks Allowed to Proceed
13
San Antonio Express-News. Wells Fargo Settlement in Pettit Bankruptcies
14
vLex. Terry v. Frost Bank
15
The Real Deal. Alamo Heights Home of Disgraced Chris Pettit Asks $4M
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Personal Property Auction
17
Yahoo News. Chris Pettit’s Victims See Small Distribution Ahead
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Incarcerated at Leavenworth
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San Antonio Express-News. Chris Pettit Appeal to 5th Circuit