A lawyer who represented Rodney King after Los Angeles police officers beat him in 1991 has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for failing to pay over $2.4 million in taxes. Milton Grimes will plead guilty to one count of tax evasion, resolving allegations that he did not pay taxes for nearly a decade, according to a plea agreement filed Thursday.
Grimes plans to change his earlier not-guilty pleas at an Oct. 29 hearing before U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. in Los Angeles. The plea agreement states that Grimes faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, but prosecutors will seek a sentence no longer than 22 months.
Marilyn Bednarski, Grimes’ lawyer, said in an email that they expect to present evidence showing, “unlike most evasion cases, Mr. Grimes lived a modest life, not one of greed or excess,” and that he served as an exemplary advocate for his clients.
Prosecutors claim that Grimes owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service over $1.7 million in taxes for the 2010-2014 tax years. They allege he evaded the agency’s collection efforts by keeping his personal bank account low, directing his earnings into his law firm’s bank accounts, and using cashier’s checks and cash withdrawals.
The scheme allegedly allowed Grimes to withdraw $16 million from his firm’s bank accounts from 2014 through 2020 without repaying his tax debts. Prosecutors also stated that he failed to pay another $700,000 in taxes owed to the IRS for the 2018-2021 tax years.
Grimes represented King in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, then-mayor Tom Bradley, and several police officers, winning a $3.8 million jury verdict in 1994.
The case is USA v. Milton Grimes, U.S. District for the Central District of California, 2:24-cr-00190. For Milton Grimes, Paul Watford from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Marilyn Bednarski from McLane Bednarski & Litt represent him. For the USA, Valerie Makarewicz, Sara Henderson, and Sarah Lee from the U.S. government are involved.
