Robert Menard, a 1981 graduate of Wasilla High School and one of the five children of prominent Valley politicians, the (late) Curtis D. Menard, Sr. and Linda Menard, has been charged with multiple criminal felony charges involving how he handled money at his law firm located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Menard Sports Center in Wasilla is named after Curtis D. Menard, Sr.
Curt Menard was a dentist and pilot who lost the use of his dominant right hand in an accident and remarkably learned to use his left hand in order to continue his dental practice. He served in the Alaska legislature as both a State Rep and a State Senator. He was serving as the Mayor of the Mat-Su Borough at the time of his death from cancer at age 64 in 2009.
Linda Menard served for a decade on the Mat-Su School Board and later she served in the Alaska State Senate from 2009 to 2012. She lost her 2012 Republican primary election to (now Governor) Mike Dunleavy.
Curt and Linda Menard were involved in many other non profit and governmental organizations. The Menard family has close ties to the Palin family.
Tragically, the Menard’s oldest son, Curtis D. Menard, Jr., who was a dentist and pilot like his father, died in an airplane accident in 2001.
Robert Menard, after graduating from the University of Alaska Anchorage, moved to Wisconsin (his parents’ home state) for law school. He stayed in the area becoming a well-known personal injury and workers comp attorney. He was charged by the State of Wisconsin with 14 felony counts in July 2019 and 6 new charges were filed against him in January, 2020. All of the charges involve financial transactions. One of the allegations is that Robert represented his uncle (Curt’s brother) in a car accident case and won a $500,000 settlement but did not give any of the money to his uncle. The two criminal cases (which may be joined) are pending. Menard’s next court date is in March. Mr. Menard maintains his innocence. There are also related civil lawsuits. His uncle’s civil lawsuit has been settled.
From the Patch.com article which is linked below:
“According to the criminal complaint, Menard routinely stole from clients in a “rob Peter to pay Paul” pattern of theft. Prosecutors say Menard received personal injury and worker’s compensation settlement checks in trust on behalf of his clients. Menard was required to keep those funds in a segregated client trust account, however prosecutors say Menard deposited personal injury and worker’s compensation settlement checks directly into his law firm business account, spent the proceeds for his own benefit until the account fell below a zero balance, and then many months later paid old clients with new clients’ insurance settlement funds.”
Here are some of the news stories from Wisconsin:
https://patch.com/wisconsin/milwaukee/14-charges-filed-against-atty-robert-menard-say-he-stole-700k
Update: Menard has now been disbarred for at least five years:
