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Former Oklahoma City attorney John Merritt pleads guilty to fraud charges

A federal prosecutor says a longtime Oklahoma City attorney has pleaded guilty to fraud.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Published: January 16, 2013

A federal prosecutor says a longtime Oklahoma City attorney has pleaded guilty to fraud.

U.S. Attorney Danny Williams Sr. says 74-year-old John Merritt pleaded guilty in three separate cases of devising schemes that resulted in him illegally receiving more than $3 million.

photo - 1995 file photo: Attorneys for the plaintiffs ICI Explosives in a class action lawsuit press conference John Merritt and Johnnie L. Cochran. ICI was being sued in connection with the Alfred Murrah Federal Building car bomb explosion. Photo by Paul B. Southerland

1995 file photo: Attorneys for the plaintiffs ICI Explosives in a class action lawsuit press conference John Merritt and Johnnie L. Cochran. ICI was being sued in connection with the Alfred Murrah Federal Building car bomb explosion. Photo by Paul B. Southerland

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Williams says Merritt pleaded guilty Monday in Oklahoma City federal court to using false financial statements and income tax returns to obtain a $1.75 million line of credit from a Tennessee finance company. Merritt also pleaded guilty to using false statements and tax returns for an $800,000 line of credit at Quail Creek Bank of Oklahoma City and to forging another attorney's signature on $500,000 in checks.

Merritt pleaded guilty in July to cheating clients — including children — out of money from trust funds and lawsuit settlements.