Burr Ridge resident Kathleen Niew, her husband, and their law firm were found Tuesday to be responsible for mishandling more than $2 million an Oak Park couple transferred into trust accounts managed by Niew, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday night.

The Trib reports DuPage County Circuit Judge Bonnie Wheaton submitted a "partial judgment of liability" against Kathleen and Stanley Niew, a candidate in this spring's Burr Ridge School District 180 board election, though the amount the couple will pay out is not yet known.

Read the full Chicago Tribune story here.

Jamal and Leda Khoury, the Oak Park couple, have alleged Niew, president of Oak Brook-based Niew Legal Partners, persuaded them to transfer $2.3 million into trust accounts she managed before her firm removed the money and "used those funds for their own benefit," the Trib reports. The 56-year-old attorney, who the couple hired in 2010 to help with real-esate investing, has not been charged with a crime. 

READ: Burr Ridge Radio Host, Lawyer Mishandles $2.3M, Suit Alleges

According to her profile on The Niew Group's website, Kathleen Niew attended Hinsdale Central High School, before the University of Iowa and Northern Illinois University College of Law.

"With a focus on Estate Planning and Probate Law, Kathleen established her practice in 1984 and has been an attorney for more than twenty-seven years," the profile reads. "In 2005, she was selected as the 2005 Republican Business Woman of the year and in 2006 she received the Ronald Reagan Congressional Gold Medal."

Niew's book Money-keeping for Modern Times was published in 2004. She also hosts a radio program—"Earn It. Keep It. Grow It."—on AM 560 every Saturday morning.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

There are plenty of ways to keep up on local news:

• Sign up for the daily Burr Ridge newsletter or Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills newsletter.

• Like Burr Ridge Patch and Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch on Facebook.