Ex-stripper in judicial scandal pleads guilty to fraud

A former stripper whose accusations unseated a state judge pleaded guilty today to federal bank fraud.

Christy Yamanaka went public two years ago about her relationship with former state appeals court Judge Thomas E. Stringer, providing News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune with documentation that Stringer helped hide her financial assets from creditors and a bankruptcy court.

Wearing a demure white suit and with her fiancé watching from the spectator's gallery, Yamanaka told U.S. Magistrate Thomas McCoun that she was certain she wanted to plead guilty under the terms of a plea agreement.

A sentencing date has not been set; the maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

But under the terms of her plea agreement, Yamanaka is unlikely to go to prison, in part, because prosecutors plan to ask that she get credit for cooperating in the investigation.

After the hearing, Yamanaka's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said his client is a victim of Stringer "because she was obviously under the influence of someone she looked up to as a father figure who was a judge and someone she believed would not lead her astray."

Stringer was sentenced in November to a year of probation after pleading guilty to bank fraud. He also was ordered to forfeit $222,000 and perform 150 hours of community service.

Yamanaka also has agreed to forfeit $222,000, although the plea agreement says she is jointly liable with Stringer. In other words, the two combined are required to forfeit that amount in total.

Yamanaka said Stringer helped her at a time when she had court judgments against her totaling about $315,000. Stringer has said Yamanaka's money went into bank accounts he opened in his name because she had terrible credit.

Stringer purchased a house in Hawaii with Yamanaka. He left her name off the mortgage and provided false information on the loan application. Yamanaka contends Stringer cheated her out of money on the sale of the house, but Stringer has said he gave her more than her share.

It was the lie on the mortgage application that formed the basis for the bank fraud charges.

Stringer resigned from the 2nd District Court of Appeal after the story broke.