Wednesday, July 22, 2026

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Disbarred Manhattan Beach Attorney Pleads Guilty to Theft of More Than $100,000

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Disbarred Manhattan Beach solo practitioner Sergio Valdovinos Ramirez has pled guilty to three felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement, as well as an insufficient-checking-account-funds charge, and admitted that his crimes caused more than $100,000 in losses to his victims relating to allegations that he stole from and defrauded multiple ex-clients between 2019 and 2023.

Monday’s plea follows a September 2024 disbarment order by the California Supreme Court, in which high court concurred with a recommendation made by the State Bar Court Review Department after a hearing judge found him culpable of 19 counts of misconduct relating to some of the conduct underlying the criminal complaint, including theft of client funds, misrepresentations, and writing checks against accounts that could not support the charges.

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, as part of his plea in the criminal matter, Valdovinos Ramirez has agreed to pay $50,000 before a Sept. 21 sentencing hearing and that he will be on the hook for a total of $310,000 in restitution. Prosecutors say he is expected to be sentenced to two years in state prison.

In June 2024, the State Bar Review Department found that he had intentionally misappropriated more than $100,000 from his one-time clients and had failed to deposit their funds into a designated trust account, to return unearned fees, and to keep his patrons apprised of significant case events.

One client, Lisa Mendez, said that she paid him approximately $4,350 in fees in 2019 before he fabricated a settlement and handed over checks for more than $150,000 from accounts with near-zero balances. He also purportedly misled her about his handling of the case and allowed the statute of limitations to expire without taking any action to preserve her claims.

Other clients complained that he accepted thousands in fees, failed to perform satisfactory work, and never repaid the full amount as requested or, if he did, it was by way of refund checks that were written against accounts that did not have the funds to pay out. On multiple occasions, he deposited client funds in personal or non-trust accounts before spending some of the money on personal expenditures that included gambling activities.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said yesterday:

“The defendant duped and deceived his clients of funds that were earmarked for them only to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars of these funds gambling.

“This truly was a house of cards that collapsed when law enforcement and State Bar officials learned about his duplicitous actions. He not only lost his ability to practice law but also must pay back the stolen money and serve time in prison as well.”