Real estate attorney gets 70 months in prison for scam

CHICAGO (AP) - A real estate attorney and radio talk-show host from suburban Chicago has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for stealing more than $2.3 million from clients.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Illinois announced Thursday that 59-year-old Kathleen Niew of Burr Ridge was also ordered to pay restitution of $2.34 million to her victims and forfeit assets of her crime.

Court records indicate a husband and wife transferred $2.34 million into an escrow account Niew controlled to pay for closings on commercial real estate. Instead, Niew used the money to purchase various gold-mining operations. She also arranged to receive a 20 percent finder's fee from mining operations in exchange for providing $1.5 million of her clients' money.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber pronounced the sentence.