The legal profession requires honesty as its most fundamental virtue. For Fresno attorney Jake Alexander Soberal (State Bar Number 277875), co-founder and former co-CEO of the failed tech company Bitwise Industries, that virtue was sacrificed in a massive criminal scheme. Soberal was swiftly hit with the maximum professional penalty: summary disbarment from the practice of law in California.
The permanent disbarment, effective October 3, 2025, was an automatic result of his federal felony convictions, which involved defrauding investors and lenders out of approximately $115 million.
The Core Misconduct: Wire Fraud and Moral Turpitude
Soberal’s disbarment stems directly from his guilty plea in federal court for his role in the Bitwise Industries fraud:
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Criminal Convictions: Soberal pleaded guilty to two serious felony charges: Conspiring to Commit Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. $\S$ 1349) and Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. $\S$ 1343).
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The Fraud Scheme: The scheme involved fabricating financial information, falsifying audit reports, and systematically lying about the company’s revenue and cash balances to secure capital from investors and lenders. The total financial damage caused by the fraudulent misrepresentations reached approximately $115 million.
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Sentencing: Demonstrating the severity of the crime, a federal judge sentenced Soberal to 11 years in federal prison for his role in orchestrating the massive fraud.
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Moral Turpitude Finding: The State Bar Court determined that both of these felony offenses are crimes involving moral turpitude. In the context of the Bar, this finding means the attorney’s conduct violates the fundamental standards of honesty and morality, making them fundamentally unfit to practice law.
The Final Sanction: Automatic Summary Disbarment
The severity of the federal criminal conviction left the State Bar Court with no discretion in its ruling.
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Summary Disbarment: Under California law, an attorney convicted of a felony that inherently involves moral turpitude is subject to summary disbarment. This means the license is automatically revoked based on the conviction alone, without the need for a full, contested disciplinary hearing on the underlying facts.
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Effective Date: The permanent disbarment (Case No. 24-C-30745) became effective in October 2025.
Soberal’s license has been permanently revoked, and he is ineligible to practice law in the state of California.
Conclusion: Honesty is the Baseline
The case of Jake Alexander Soberal is a tragic and unambiguous illustration of the consequences of financial fraud. An attorney’s license is predicated on the ability to serve as a reliable fiduciary. When that duty is cast aside for personal gain—especially in a scheme involving tens of millions of dollars and lies to the federal government—the professional consequence is immediate and absolute.
The summary disbarment ensures that a convicted felon, having committed crimes of moral turpitude, is permanently removed from the Bar to protect the public trust and the integrity of the profession.
