The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is an independent office of the Colorado Supreme Court, whose building is seen here in 2015. (The Denver Post)
A Denver startup lawyer has agreed to be disbarred after state investigators accused him of embezzling at least $185,000 from a company, of clandestinely doubling his six-figure salary at that company, of funneling its stock to his wife, and an array of other improprieties.
Andrew Wichern’s legal career ended in ignominy on Aug. 22, 18 years after he was admitted to practice law in Colorado. He worked for several Denver law firms, including Messner Reeves and Aegis Law, and also served as in-house counsel for a few local startups.
That includes Iterate, an artificial intelligence firm that Wichern co-founded in 2013. His time as the company’s chief legal officer would come to gain the attention of investigators.
When Iterate filed its first tax returns, it listed Wichern and other founders as owning 900,000 shares of stock each. But the following year, Wichern filed new forms that put his amount at 1.1 million shares and reduced the stock of other Iterate founders, he admits now.
Around that same time, Wichern directed Iterate’s finance department to double his salary from $100,000 to $200,000, ensuring he earned twice as much money as the others. Wichern claims this was allowed because the company’s CEO “had told him to set his salary.”
Andrew Wichern
Next, in the summer of 2016, Wichern convinced Iterate to hire his wife, Joanne, and to sell company stock to her for little or no cost, despite Iterate’s $12 million valuation, according to the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigates wrongdoing by lawyers.
The following year, as the Wicherns were cash poor from building a 6,000-square-foot home, he ordered his wife’s stock to be vested faster than other shareholders’ stock, he admits now. This was done over the objections of an outside attorney, who warned it would appear “incredibly suspicious” to regulators. Wichern then gave company cash to an Iterate employee, who used that to buy the wife’s stock, Wichern admitted in a legal settlement last month.
Concerned about the Wicherns’ spending, Iterate hired a forensic accountant to scan the company’s books. According to a lawsuit that Iterate filed against them in 2021, the audit determined the Wicherns had “used the company’s accounts as their personal ATM.”
Among their alleged purchases: Vacations, concert tickets, spa visits, ski trips, wine, children’s swim lessons and soccer fees, personal trainers, more than 600 meals, either adult toys or lingerie, guns and gun-range fees, dog diapers and “a deluxe penguin suit.”
The Wicherns still dispute the findings of the forensic audit but Andrew Wichern “acknowledges not all funds were properly used pursuant to corporate policy,” he wrote in last month’s settlement with the Office of Attorney Regulation. He admits to “using thousands of dollars in corporate funds during the period 2013-2021 without authorization” from Iterate.
The Wicherns were fired in 2020 and sued by Iterate a few months later. That case was settled out of court last year. The Office of Attorney Regulation then investigated Wichern.
In addition to the lawyer’s embezzlement and other financial impropriety, the state agency found that in 2016, Wichern sublet some of Iterate’s office space in Cherry Creek to Anthony’s Pizza, then paid himself a $5,000 broker commission from the deal. Wichern denies that.
In his settlement with the Office of Attorney Regulation, Wichern acknowledged misconduct, lying, poor communication, and practicing law after his license was suspended for not paying fees in 2021. He also agreed to the harshest punishment: immediate disbarment.
Wichern’s misconduct “was motivated by his own selfish interest,” the settlement states.
Wichern was represented in the case by attorneys David Beller and Nathan Bruggeman with Recht Kornfeld in Denver, who did not answer requests for comment last week.
Since being fired from Iterate, Wichern has worked for Bold Legal, a business law firm in Denver, and Starfire Energy, a self-described “disruptive green ammonia company.”
The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is an independent office of the Colorado Supreme Court, whose building is seen here in 2015. (The Denver Post)
A Denver startup lawyer has agreed to be disbarred after state investigators accused him of embezzling at least $185,000 from a company, of clandestinely doubling his six-figure salary at that company, of funneling its stock to his wife, and an array of other improprieties.
Andrew Wichern’s legal career ended in ignominy on Aug. 22, 18 years after he was admitted to practice law in Colorado. He worked for several Denver law firms, including Messner Reeves and Aegis Law, and also served as in-house counsel for a few local startups.
That includes Iterate, an artificial intelligence firm that Wichern co-founded in 2013. His time as the company’s chief legal officer would come to gain the attention of investigators.
When Iterate filed its first tax returns, it listed Wichern and other founders as owning 900,000 shares of stock each. But the following year, Wichern filed new forms that put his amount at 1.1 million shares and reduced the stock of other Iterate founders, he admits now.
Around that same time, Wichern directed Iterate’s finance department to double his salary from $100,000 to $200,000, ensuring he earned twice as much money as the others. Wichern claims this was allowed because the company’s CEO “had told him to set his salary.”
Andrew Wichern
Next, in the summer of 2016, Wichern convinced Iterate to hire his wife, Joanne, and to sell company stock to her for little or no cost, despite Iterate’s $12 million valuation, according to the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigates wrongdoing by lawyers.
The following year, as the Wicherns were cash poor from building a 6,000-square-foot home, he ordered his wife’s stock to be vested faster than other shareholders’ stock, he admits now. This was done over the objections of an outside attorney, who warned it would appear “incredibly suspicious” to regulators. Wichern then gave company cash to an Iterate employee, who used that to buy the wife’s stock, Wichern admitted in a legal settlement last month.
Concerned about the Wicherns’ spending, Iterate hired a forensic accountant to scan the company’s books. According to a lawsuit that Iterate filed against them in 2021, the audit determined the Wicherns had “used the company’s accounts as their personal ATM.”
Among their alleged purchases: Vacations, concert tickets, spa visits, ski trips, wine, children’s swim lessons and soccer fees, personal trainers, more than 600 meals, either adult toys or lingerie, guns and gun-range fees, dog diapers and “a deluxe penguin suit.”
The Wicherns still dispute the findings of the forensic audit but Andrew Wichern “acknowledges not all funds were properly used pursuant to corporate policy,” he wrote in last month’s settlement with the Office of Attorney Regulation. He admits to “using thousands of dollars in corporate funds during the period 2013-2021 without authorization” from Iterate.
The Wicherns were fired in 2020 and sued by Iterate a few months later. That case was settled out of court last year. The Office of Attorney Regulation then investigated Wichern.
In addition to the lawyer’s embezzlement and other financial impropriety, the state agency found that in 2016, Wichern sublet some of Iterate’s office space in Cherry Creek to Anthony’s Pizza, then paid himself a $5,000 broker commission from the deal. Wichern denies that.
In his settlement with the Office of Attorney Regulation, Wichern acknowledged misconduct, lying, poor communication, and practicing law after his license was suspended for not paying fees in 2021. He also agreed to the harshest punishment: immediate disbarment.
Wichern’s misconduct “was motivated by his own selfish interest,” the settlement states.
Wichern was represented in the case by attorneys David Beller and Nathan Bruggeman with Recht Kornfeld in Denver, who did not answer requests for comment last week.
Since being fired from Iterate, Wichern has worked for Bold Legal, a business law firm in Denver, and Starfire Energy, a self-described “disruptive green ammonia company.”
