A certified public accountant pled guilty to stealing more than $1.7 million of his clients’ money. He received a county jail sentence, with work release after 60 days and probation. He also agreed to surrender his CPA license forever. He was released at his minimum and had his probation terminated early. That not being enough, he petitioned to get his professional license back. The Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs’s prosecution division withdrew its objection to reinstating his license after he called several prestigious and politically connected witnesses at a hearing. But the Accountancy Board denied the petition to reinstate the CPA’s professional license. So he appealed. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that the Accountancy Board abused its discretion and remanded for reinstatement of the professional license.
