A Tacoma attorney used his disabled client's reverse mortgage to hide his own theft
Colby Parks, a Tacoma, Washington attorney, became trustee of a disabled client's living trust in 2010 after she received a $1.66 million settlement from a motorcycle accident. Over roughly a decade he transferred more than $880,000 of her trust funds into his own accounts, and in 2018, as the trust neared depletion, had her take out a reverse mortgage on her home and used the proceeds to keep the trust account looking solvent while he continued diverting funds. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May 2025 and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $880,000
- Victims
- One individual
- Schemes
- Reverse mortgage scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-01
The facts, as recorded
- Colby Parks, 65, of Tacoma, Washington, became trustee of his client's living trust in 2010 after she was critically injured as a passenger in a motorcycle accident and received a $1.66 million settlement.
- Over roughly ten years as trustee, Parks made more than 600 transfers of the victim's funds into accounts under his control, moving more than $880,000 in total; federal prosecutors said he paid himself at least $530,000 more than he was entitled to in trustee fees.
- In 2018, Parks had his client take out a reverse mortgage on her home, telling her the funds would replenish the trust, but he continued transferring money out of the account for his own use afterward.
- By the end of 2019, the trust account held only $15, and the victim was forced to sell her home; officials said Parks then diverted money from that sale by claiming she owed him money he had personally loaned her.
- Washington State Adult Protective Services first identified the case and referred it to the FBI's Seattle Field Office, which investigated with the Mount Vernon Police Department.
- Parks pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May 2025 and was sentenced in US District Court in Seattle to 18 months in federal prison. He has paid $530,000 in restitution and resigned his law license rather than face bar disciplinary proceedings that his state bar said would have resulted in disbarment.
- FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Herrington said: "At the end of this, she basically had nothing left," and described Parks' repeated refusal to provide financial statements or invoices as "a big red flag."
- Herrington also said: "Instead of taking care of her, as he had an obligation to do, he violated that trust and actually stole everything from her."
Why this case matters
This is the only case on this page where the reverse mortgage was arranged by the one person who was legally obligated to protect the victim’s finances, not a stranger or a salesperson. It shows the scheme working through an existing fiduciary relationship rather than a cold pitch, and shows how long that can delay discovery.
A decade before anyone outside noticed
Parks was already diverting trust funds for roughly eight years before the 2018 reverse mortgage. He did not use it to start the theft, he used it to cover the theft’s tracks, refilling an account he knew was running dry so that a drained trust would not itself become the thing that exposed him.
Who caught it
Not a bank, not the trust’s beneficiary herself, and not the reverse mortgage lender. Washington State Adult Protective Services identified the pattern and referred it to the FBI, which traced more than 600 individual transfers over ten years before Parks was charged.
The caveat
Parks pleaded guilty, and the facts above reflect a concluded federal case, a guilty plea and a sentence, not an allegation. He has paid $530,000 of the roughly $880,000 prosecutors say he transferred out of the trust; the difference reflects the restitution amount tied to his conviction rather than the full sum moved, some of which the government attributed to legitimate, if excessive, trustee fees.
Sources
- Former Tacoma attorney sentenced for embezzling thousands from client. FOX 13 Seattle (KCPQ). Accessed 2026-10-01. Supports: Parks' age and location, his role as trustee since 2010, the $1.66 million settlement, the more-than-$880,000 in transfers, the $530,000 in trustee fees he was not entitled to, the 2018 reverse mortgage, the account dropping to $15 by the end of 2019, the forced home sale, Washington Adult Protective Services identifying the case, the May 2025 guilty plea, the 18-month sentence, his resignation from the bar, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Herrington's quotes.
- DOJ: Former attorney pleads guilty in case of reverse mortgage misuse. HousingWire. Accessed 2026-10-01. Supports: Parks' age, the Tacoma location, his role as a former attorney and trustee, the 2010 motorcycle-accident settlement of $1.66 million, the trust account balance falling to $15 by 2019, the use of reverse mortgage proceeds to replenish the depleted trust in 2018, and the wire fraud charge.