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NY Lawyer Sees Plea Deal Unravel
After By Vesselin Mitev NY Lawyer Admits Stealing $2.1 Million By Anthony Lin A Manhattan lawyer has pleaded guilty to stealing $2.1 million in client funds from an escrow account. Real estate lawyer Ira L. Berman took money placed in his care as down payments on property sales and used it for his personal and office expenses. According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which announced the guilty plea yesterday, at least eight people lost money that was placed in escrow with Mr. Berman for the purposes of consummating property sales primarily in Manhattan but also in Southampton, N.Y. Prosecutors said about $3.2 million is missing, though $1.1 million remains in the escrow account and will be distributed to Mr. Berman's victims. Mr. Berman, 66, has already been promised a sentence of three-to-nine years in prison on a charge of first-degree grand larceny. NY Lawyer Accused of Stealing $266,000 From Client By Daniel Wise The lawyer, Roger Cohen, 69, pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree grand larceny and was released on $250,000 bail, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. Mr. Cohen was accused of taking more than $294,000 from the proceeds of a real estate sale for his client, who owned a real estate investment company. The proceeds were supposed to have been placed in an Internal Revenue Services account to be established for the client, whose name was not released. When the client demanded the money's return, Mr. Cohen refunded only $28,671, according to prosecutors. NY Lawyer
Loses License for 30 Months By Daniel Wise The panel also found that the lawyer, Leah Larsen, 68, violated ethical rules by demanding an "exorbitant" fee not backed by time records and by pressuring her client to withdraw a complaint about the fee he had made to the Dutchess County judge handling the divorce. One judge on the panel, Justice James M. McGuire (See Profile), would have disbarred Ms. Larsen. But the majority, consisting of Justices Richard T. Andrias (See Profile), David B. Saxe (See Profile), Eugene Nardelli (See Profile) and John W. Sweeny Jr. (See Profile), found the suspension severe enough in view of Ms. Larsen's previously unblemished 28-year career. According to the opinion in Matter of Larsen, M-5004, Ms. Larsen had told her client, Conrad Tebbetts, that he could pay her with $40,750 from the proceeds of the sale of the divorcing couple's home. Justice James V. Brands had ordered the money be paid into Mr. Tebbetts' 401(k). Mr. Tebbetts suggested Ms. Larsen take only about $30,000 for the fee. Ms. Larsen then sent her client a one-page bill for $168,400, claiming 852 hours of work at $200 an hour without detailing her work, the decision reported. When Mr. Tebbetts wrote to Justice Brands to complain about the bill, Ms. Larsen threatened to collect the entire $138,000 balance due at an arbitration unless he withdrew his letter to the judge. Lawyer's
Bullying Secretary Over Weight Demands By Thomas B. Scheffey Russell is currently on leave from his firm, serving a home confinement sentence for his admitted destruction of a hard drive containing child pornography while working for a Greenwich church. The church's music director was implicated. Russell, a former Bronx, N.Y., assistant district attorney, pled guilty to a single count of obstruction of justice, and was spared prison time. Lamothe says Russell warned her at her first job interview that his law firm was in disarray and that he was a "yeller." Within a few months "he fulfilled his prophecy," with Lamothe resigning after the final outburst. During her course of employment, Russell said she had been a good employee, but harangued the 300-pound woman about her weight gain. She was diagnosed with uterine cancer in February 2006. She had diabetes and testified she was concerned about her ability to have a child. Russell told the court "it's none of my business," about her health problems, but allegedly ordered Lamothe to exercise daily, to walk from the train station, and, she says, "constantly belittled, berated and screamed at her in front of her fellow employees," wrote Gilardi in his Jan. 18 ruling. Russell allegedly told her to "move her fat ass," called her "fat" and threw objects at or near her. The alleged incidents of physical contact convinced Gilardi to issue the pre-judgment remedy. At one time a workman broke a light fixture in a stairwell and Lamothe called the building's management to clean up the debris. Upset, Russell allegedly grabbed her arm and brought her to the basement to get a vacuum cleaner. "When he couldn't open the basement door because the vacuum was in the way he pushed the door open, grabbed the vacuum, and threw it down the stairs, breaking it," Gilardi noted. He then allegedly took Lamothe nearby to the lobby of the Patriot National Bank and "in front of the bank tellers and customers yelled to ask if there was a dust pan or a broom" Lamothe could use, then made her go get them. On another occasion, Lamothe says she was outside smoking a cigarette, and Russell "came up and grabbed the cigarette out of her mouth and stomped it on the ground. He announced to everyone that she is '(expletive) sick' and told her that if he ever saw her smoking again she would be fired," Gilardi recounted. Russell conceded he might have told Lamothe she was sick because she was "fat," Gilardi noted, adding, "He said it was not beyond the realm of possibility that he told plaintiff she was 'retarded.'" Russell, a former member of the Connecticut Law Tribune's editorial board, is defended in this case by Lewis H. Chimes of New Haven, Conn.'s Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Chimes & Richardson. "I think, given the very low standard for a PJR in Connecticut, this wasn't a surprise, although I was surprised at the amount," Chimes said. "I think once the facts are known, it will be clear this is a garden variety workplace stress situation. [The tort of] Intentional infliction of emotional distress has a very high standard, and 90 percent of claims are not allowed." He added, "I don't think this case meets this threshold." Lamothe is represented by the five-lawyer New Milford, Conn., firm of Guendelsberger, Collins, Henry & Guendelsberger. Her lawyer, Rebecca E. Guendelsberger, said her client is currently employed in a Bridgeport law office. She said the judge, "obviously recognized that my client was hurt. This is something that no employee should have to experience, especially someone who works for an attorney." Disbarred
Lawyer Gets 41-Month By The Associated Press A federal judge has sentenced former Lafayette, La. attorney Mel Credeur to 41 months in a federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $769,000 in restitution. Credeur accepted a plea agreement last year and pleaded to one count of making false statements to a bank and one count of forging securities of private entities. He had been indicted in 2006 on charges that he lied to banks by asking for extensions on attorney-client lines of credit, even though he had already settled their cases. Prior to the plea agreement, Credeur also faced 23 counts of forging securities of private entities, stemming from allegations that he settled his clients' cases without their knowledge and then kept their settlements by forging their signatures. According to the plea agreement, Credeur faced possible fines of more than $1 million and up to 40 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Richard Haik on Tuesday sentenced Credeur to 41 months on each count to run concurrently and five years of supervised release afterward. Credeur was disbarred in
April 2007, according to a release from the Louisiana Supreme Court.
By The Associated Press A Memphis attorney who testified last year against a partner who stole from clients now faces accusations that he stole as well. Phoebe Copeland claims in a lawsuit that J. Richard Rossie stole more than $346,000 from her after she granted him power of attorney to handle her estate. Copeland hopes to block any settlement between Rossie and Darrelle Miller, another client who is suing the attorney, claiming Rossie stole more than $1 million from her. Rossie's attorney, James Wilson, could not be reached for comment on Thursday. Copeland's attorneys argue that a settlement with Miller would make Rossie insolvent and unable to pay Copeland. Chancellor Arnold Goldin has issued a restraining order temporarily preventing Rossie from distributing any money. According to a financial statement, Rossie is worth $3.85 million, but Copeland's attorneys say much of that is immune from judgment. Copeland is accusing Rossie of taking her money by writing at least 42 checks to himself between August 2000 and June 2007, using funds from the law firm's escrow account. He then deposited the money in personal accounts at various banks, the suit alleges. Rossie is a former partner of John Houser Parker who pleaded guilty last year to stealing nearly $2 million from clients and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Rossie testified against Parker at a sentencing hearing. State prosecutor Steve Crossnoe would not say whether he is considering criminal charges against Rossie. Lawyer
Who Sexually Assaulted Five or More Minors By Amaris Elliott-Engel A former Philadelphia criminal defense attorney convicted of several sex crimes with minors, including an estimated five incidents in the Criminal Justice Center, was sentenced last week to serve 25 to 50 years in prison. Larry Charles, 50, was sentenced Thursday by an out-of-county judge, Berks Common Pleas Senior Judge Albert A. Stallone, for sex crimes between 1999 and 2007 related to six girls authorities said Charles raped, molested or groped. Charles pleaded no contest to crimes including rape, indecent assault and corruption of minors. He received consecutive sentences for the crimes related to each of the girls, including seven to 14 years for raping a 5-year-old girl. The girl was raped vaginally and anally in both a motel in New Jersey and a bank deposit room, said Jim Carpenter, the assistant chief of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office's family violence and sexual assault unit. Authorities said Charles sexually abused the girls in both of his offices in Center City and Southwest Philadelphia, in the deposit rooms of banks, in the Criminal Justice Center (CJC) and in motels. The criminal case against Charles broke open when sheriff's deputies found him with a 14-year-old girl after engaging in sexual contact with her in a third-floor attorneys' lounge at the CJC on Martin Luther King Day 2007. Deputies began searching for Charles because they found it unusual that he was in the building on a public holiday with a young girl; Deputy Andrew Ortiz had to break down the door, and the girl was found cowering inside, Carpenter said. Charles was found naked. "We were very pleased with this sentence," said Carpenter, who prosecuted Charles. "It reflects the terrible damage he's done to these six girls. It also reflects his offense not only against his profession but against the courthouse where you seek justice and truth." In addition to the sexual encounter that the sheriff's deputies disrupted, Charles raped a 16-year-old in the rear room of the lawyers' lounge and also sexually molested a girl in the anteroom outside a courtroom and twice pulled girls onto his lap in the lawyers' lounge, Carpenter said. Charles' defense attorney, Angelo Cameron, had sought for Charles to be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison and supervised counseling. He wanted a "controlled environment and psychiatric treatment" for his client, Cameron said, "because pedophilia is a mental abnormality." Philadelphia Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones II said that after Charles was initially arrested, the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office, which controls security for the CJC, reviewed if more restricted access should be instituted for the building, but it was ultimately determined that attorneys do need to meet and work inside the CJC at varied hours. It also was decided that Charles' activities were an aberration so the sheriff's CJC protocols were found to be sufficient, Jones said. "It's one-in-a-billion for a lawyer to do something like that," Jones said. Two of the girls, and four of the other girls were from the same family, Carpenter said. "He basically used his influence and his status to gain the trust of families, particularly families in difficult circumstances, and then used that trust to isolate the girls, buy them things, use treats and to groom them for sexual contact," Carpenter said. He used force when the girls resisted, Carpenter said. Once the MLK incident opened up awareness into Charles' activities, some of the other victims came forward and law enforcement conducted an investigation, including verifying motel records and bank surveillance tape footage, the prosecutor said. Charles was ruled to be a sexually violent predator and a pedophile strongly attracted to both pre-pubescent and post-pubescent children during a Megan's Law hearing held before his sentencing, Carpenter said. Cameron has not discussed yet with Charles if he wants to appeal his sentencing. Charles will not be eligible for parole until he's 75, Carpenter said. Charles did have remorse for his actions, Cameron said. Charles agreed to an emergency suspension of his legal license after his arrest in January. Corporate
Attorneys Mull Meaning New York Lawyer Has the
indictment Tuesday of Mayer
Brown partner Joseph P. Collins sent "a chill down the spine" of
transactional lawyers everywhere, as Mr. Collins' defense lawyer
said it should? Solo
Faces 73 Criminal Counts for Leading 25-Year, By Amaris Elliott-Engel Personal injury attorney H. Allen Litt, 58, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., has been charged along with 14 others in a scam involving falsifying personal injuries from made-up or exaggerated slip-and-fall and auto accident cases and submitting fraudulent insurance claims, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said. Litt was charged with 73 criminal counts, including 31 third-degree felonies of insurance fraud and one first-degree felony of corrupt organizations. Litt, who was admitted to practice law in 1975, is accused of working with 100 runners who both located potential imposter claimants or posed as claimants, according to a grand jury presentment charging Litt and his co-defendants. The imposters would obtain medical care from physicians selected by Litt and rack up inflated medical bills via numerous visits to the Litt-selected doctors, the grand jury charged. Some claimants actually took falls or had an injury from another instance but still participated in a fraudulent fall or accident claim at the behest of the runners, the grand jury charged. Litt would file fraudulent insurance claims based on the doctors' bills and bogus photographs taken by the runners, the grand jury charged. Four runners alone brought in 300 claims for which insurance companies paid $2.5 million, according to the grand jury presentment. Runners received commissions for bringing in cases and for taking pictures of fraudulent accident scenes, the presentment charged. Abraham cited the Charles Dickens' story Oliver Twist about an orphan sucked into a crime ring and called Litt the equivalent of the story's Fagin, the Dickensian criminal mastermind. The 25 years of alleged fraud and "hundreds upon hundreds and hundreds of fake accidents" probably involved much more than the $2.5 million, Abraham said. Abraham's office plans to seek a judge's imprimatur on an exception to the statue of limitations in order to be able to prosecute Litt for more fraud-based charges. Litt was scheduled to be arrested at the office of his attorney, Marc Neff, at noon yesterday, Abraham said. A call to Neff's office was not returned. There was no answer at Litt's 1515 Market St. office. Litt also was charged with one first-degree felony count of conspiracy, 21 third-degree felony counts of theft by deception, 13 third-degree felony counts of attempted theft by deception, four counts of second-degree misdemeanor of false swearing, one first-degree felony count of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities and one third-degree felony, count of criminal use of a communication facility. Litt could face up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine for each first-degree felony, seven years in prison and up to a $15,000 fine for each third-degree felony, and two years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine for each second-degree misdemeanor. The grand jury evidence included testimony from three alleged runners for Litt: Lewis Crump, a North Philadelphia man who said he was in the "accident business," James "Big Frank" Guinn, a taxi driver who based himself at 27th and Tasker streets in South Philadelphia and Nathaniel Shaw, who said he was a real estate investor and landlord in North and West Philadelphia. All three men have already pleaded guilty to insurance fraud as part of plea bargains. They revealed Litt "relied on a stable of runners like themselves to recruit friends and family members who pretended to fall and faked injuries in order to file false insurance claims. He then paid the runners, usually between $100 and $1,000 per case," the grand jury charged. According to the grand jury presentment, the 132 claims brought by Shaw to Litt involved more than $1 million, and Shaw was paid $47,000. The 36 claims brought by Guinn to Litt brought in $100,000, and Guinn was paid $12,000, the presentment said. Crump allegedly brought 10 to 12 cases to Litt. The runners "worked on commission and they were more than happy to recruit," Abraham said. Shaw, who first met Litt when he was involved in a legitimate trolley accident, said Litt was aware the 132 cases he brought him were fraudulent, but Litt would pretend with these clients that he was not involved in the fraud, the grand jury charged. Litt, however, coached Shaw to choose accident sites that involved a cracked sidewalk or a broken step and no surveillance cameras; Litt also told Shaw to instruct the imposter claimants to go to an emergency room and complain of injuries from a fall, the grand jury charged. Shaw's imposter-accident recruits complained that Litt promised them big money if they made frequent appointments with the doctors he referred to them, but that their share of settlements were tiny, according to the grand jury presentment. Litt dismissed the complaints, the grand jury charged, and said: "Don't worry about it. They're not hurt anyway, and I got to pay the medical bills and got to pay the doctors." Iris Kurtz, the receptionist in Litt's office, testified that Litt directed her to improperly notarize releases of settlements without obtaining the signatures of the clients, the grand jury charged. According to the grand jury presentment, Shaw learned that an investigation was being undertaken of his and Litt's activities from two women he had recruited to take part in fraudulent claims. In response, according to the grand jury presentment, Litt got Shaw to obtain retraction statements from both women. Those statements were not submitted to the district attorney, but instead were turned over to an investigator and were introduced as evidence in front of the grand jury. Files were seized from Litt's office in December 2005, and Litt asked Shaw to contact the claimants involved in the cases in those files, but Shaw refused during a phone call with Litt, the grand jury charged. "In response, Litt announced, 'things are going to get ugly,' and hung up," according to the presentment. Guinn said that he drew claimants from 16 of his neighbors that he called the "Tasker Street Crew," according to the presentment. Guinn said he followed Litt's instructions to find holes in front of "well-off, but not too big, businesses" that didn't have a lot of attorneys to fight a case but would have more money to pay out than Chinese or Korean businesses, the grand jury charged. Abraham said that the investigation is continuing into at least 10 doctors that Litt allegedly referred fraudulent clients to. The investigation into Litt and his alleged cohorts began with an October 2004 tip from an insurance fraud investigator with Chubb Insurance Co., Abraham said. A search of Litt's office revealed hundreds of documents, including accounting file cards, canceled checks and accident scene photos, according to the grand jury's presentment. Litt was "really very helpful to us," Abraham said. "He kept great records." Linda Perkins, chief of the District Attorney's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit, said Litt is an exception to the rule and that most attorneys are honest and withdraw a claim for a fraudulent accident. Joshua Pitts, 63, of Philadelphia, was Litt's most active runner, according to the presentment. Over 400 checks totaling more than $190,000 were issued to Pitts from Litt, according to records seized from Litt's office, the grand jury charged. Pitts and three of his adult children were charged each with one count of insurance fraud and related offenses, according to the District Attorney's Office. Ten alleged co-conspirators, including Crump, Guinn and Shaw, have already been arrested. Some have pleaded guilty as part of plea bargains and have agreed to testify against Litt. Samuel Stretton, an attorney who writes an ethics column for Pennsylvania Law Weekly, The Legal's sister publication, and who often represents jurists in legal quandaries, said that Litt will most likely be able to continue practicing law pending the outcome of his court case. But the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court can seek more immediate action on Litt's law license by requesting that a hearing be held on suspending Litt from practicing law on an interim basis, Stretton said. Attorney
Get 15 Years in Prison for New York Lawyer MIAMI -- Saying he would mete out a longer sentence if he could, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold handed down the strictest prison sentence possible under federal guidelines -- 15 years -- for one-time high-flying Miami attorney Louis S. Robles for bilking elderly clients out of more than $13 million. Gold had previously rejected a plea deal worked out for Robles by the U.S. Attorney's office that would have resulted in 10 years behind bars for the 59-year-old lawyer, saying it was too lenient. Besides serving 15 years in prison, Gold ordered Robles to pay $13.5 million in restitution and work 900 hours of community service in a nursing home. He must also relinquish his law license for good. The attorney represented more than 7,000 asbestos clients from the late 1980s through February 2003. Federal prosecutors said he operated an elaborate Ponzi scheme. Clients -- many elderly and dying -- would not be paid until he misappropriated money from other clients. Nearly 4,400 clients were defrauded, the government said. Robles pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud on Sept. 17 for misappropriating settlements in asbestos lawsuits, defrauding thousands of clients nationwide. He paid little or nothing to clients while living in the lap of luxury with two full-time servants, a private plane and a waterfront mansion on Key Biscayne. The lawyer "abused the special trust that his clients placed in him," U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement late Tuesday. "Robles sought out clients who were dying and cheated them out of millions of dollars, so that he could finance his own extravagant lifestyle." Attorney Indicted for Helping Clients Avoid $4.6M in Taxes By Shannon P. Duffy Also named in the indictment are eight of Bagdis' clients and two of his employees. U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan alleged in a news release that Bagdis "was so proud of his schemes that he boasted he would write a book and call it Federal Tax Fraud, The User's Guide." The indictment alleged that Bagdis has not filed an individual federal tax return since at least 1990 and was captured on tape saying the government investigation of him would be "a fight to the death." Bagdis was charged with one count of attempting to impede and obstruct the IRS, seven counts of conspiracy, 16 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return, six counts of failing to file individual income tax returns and five counts of failing to file currency transaction reports. Attorney Arrested in Internet Sex Sting at Statehouse By John McCarthy COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An attorney arrested in an Internet child-sex sting in the basement of the Ohio Statehouse thought he was going to meet a 15-year-old girl he had met online, authorities said. Barry Mentser, 48, a former children's services lawyer, was taken into custody Wednesday moments after the police officer who conducted the sting testified two floors above in favor of a bill that would increase penalties for such offenses. Lt. Jeff Braley, a detective from Hamilton Township in Warren County in southwest Ohio, said he posed as the girl to set up a Statehouse meeting with the man. "I said, 'I'm in Columbus.' He said, 'I'll meet you anywhere,'" Braley said. Braley, who said he'd been communicating with the man for about a year, testified before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee in favor of a bill that would set mandatory sentences of one to five years for the offense of importuning by telecommunications, aimed at sexual offenders who prey upon underage children through the Internet. Braley said he didn't arrange the sting at the Statehouse to draw attention to the bill or his testimony, but that he knew the man was in the Columbus area and that police were aware of his identity. Undercover Columbus police officers spotted Mentser in the Statehouse cafeteria, where Braley had set up the meeting, said city police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner. A security video later made available by Statehouse officials showed a man identified as Mentser walking from one side of the basement to the other, then back across, toward the cafeteria. The Statehouse is a popular stop for school field trips, but there were none scheduled Wednesday, and the building had few visitors besides people attending legislative sessions and hearings, said Statehouse spokesman Gregg Dodd. Mentser, of nearby Gahanna, is married with three children, The Columbus Dispatch reported. He was charged with importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, Weiner said. If convicted he could face from one year to 30 months in jail. Defense attorney Steve Palmer said Thursday he expected Mentser would enter a not guilty plea. "He had no prior record whatsoever, criminal or otherwise, and this sort of came out of left field," Palmer told WCMH-TV. His client remained in the Franklin County jail Thursday afternoon, hours after a judge set bond at $50,000. Mentser was scheduled to return to court Nov. 9 for a preliminary hearing. Current Ohio law doesn't require prison sentences for people convicted of importuning by telecommunications. Many judges say sexual acts typically don't occur in undercover stings, so they take a "no harm, no foul" stance and sentence offenders to just weeks in jail and probation, Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said after testifying before the committee. Braley said he'd arrested about 35 people as the result of such sting operations in the past year. "The Internet has served as a very fertile preying ground for these predators," Braley told committee members. Mentser was a staff attorney for Franklin County Children's Services from 1987 to 1990, when he resigned, agency spokeswoman Kay Marshall said. He had no direct contact with children outside of court while employed there and no complaints were filed with the agency about him, Marshall said. Disbarred
NY Lawyer Headed By Daniel Wise The ex-lawyer, Richard Boter, has agreed to a sentence of at least one year in prison and to pay $160,000 in restitution and forfeiture, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Mr. Boter was the twelfth attorney to be netted by the office's probe into the use of runners by personal injury lawyers to bribe hospital employees to gain access to potential clients. Mr. Boter had purchased cases from various runners, at least one of whom had bribed hospital employees to gain confidential information about patients, who were often being treated for injuries sustained in automobile accidents, according the the district attorney. To date, the 12 lawyers caught in the investigation have agreed to pay restitution or forfeiture of $1.7 million. With regard to Mr. Boter, who was disbarred last month for treating clients like "commodities", the district attorney's office said he had stolen client funds by keeping their share of settlement proceeds. He was able to do that by settling cases without his clients' permission and then forging their signatures on release forms forwarded to insurance companies to obtain the release of the settlement funds, the office said. Missing Local Lawyer Turns Up Dead By Douglas S. Malan The Connecticut Law Tribune New York Lawyer October 30, 2007 The saga of missing Clinton, Conn., lawyer Jonathan Hoyt has ended with his suicide in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hoyt, a 59-year-old business law attorney believed to have embezzled close to $700,000 from about a dozen clients, was found by police Monday around 11 a.m. in his one-bedroom apartment that he had been renting since Aug. 30. Cedar Rapids police Lt. Kenneth Washburn said there was "no indication of foul play," without providing further details. Dr. Donald J. Linder, chief medical examiner of Linn County in Iowa, said that Hoyt's death was "a well-planned suicide," but declined to comment further until a final autopsy report is ready within a couple of weeks. Police were called by Hoyt's landlord, Richard G. Hileman, a semiretired lawyer from Cedar Rapids. Hileman said that Hoyt began renting the apartment two months ago under the name Jim Bragg of NY Biz Systems, a company Hoyt portrayed as assisting companies going through bankruptcy and other financial difficulties. Hileman received a letter in the mail from Hoyt on Monday: "It said that by the time I had received the letter, he would've committed suicide and not to call 9-1-1 because he didn't want anyone to be hurt rushing over to the apartment," Hileman said. Hoyt signed the letter using his real name, Hileman noted. "I didn't quite know what to make of it," Hileman added. "I thought I was getting his rent check or his 30-day notice" of vacating the apartment for which he was paying $470 per month. Hileman said he drove to the apartment building and told his wife to call the police. Hileman added that he had had only brief encounters with Hoyt but had found him to be a "very likeable guy. "He had only been here two months, and I really didn't know the gentleman," Hileman said. "[Hoyt's stay] was just unremarkable until [Monday]." Hoyt had been missing since early July. Clinton police officers investigating the case estimate that Hoyt embezzled almost $700,000. Fugitive Local Lawyer Leaving Few Clues for Cops By Douglas S. Malan Police say the trail has gone cold in the case of missing Clinton, Conn., lawyer Jonathan Hoyt. The 58-year-old business law attorney was last seen in early July before he left behind his tan 1999 Lexus and cryptic letters in which he confessed to embezzling funds from clients. Police said they received tips from acquaintances and colleagues in July and August, but leads in the case have since come to a halt. "There hasn't been anything for a while," said William F. Tate, a public information officer with the state police. "Nothing has come from [tips we received this summer]. We're still looking." The state police Criminal Intelligence Unit has taken over the case, which is standard protocol after 30 days. The unit is working with local police in Westbrook, where Hoyt lived, and in Clinton, where he based his practice. Clinton Sgt. Joseph Flynn said Hoyt has "totally dropped off the grid" with no credit card or cell phone activity. Flynn, who led the Clinton Police Department’s investigation of Hoyt, estimates that the missing lawyer embezzled close to $700,000 from about a dozen clients. Flynn added that he doesn't know if Hoyt is alive or dead. "I wouldn’t be surprised either way, at this point," he said. "There's a good chance he's offed himself, but I don't know how or where. It's pretty baffling." Family in Shock In one letter sent to grievance officials in July, Hoyt cleared his assistants and his son Christopher by taking sole responsibility for "the thefts that have happened concerning The Hoyt Law Group, LLC Connecticut's office." Hoyt wrote a letter to his son, dated July 7: " have embezzled funds from my clients … . Like most lawyers who fall into this trap I always did it with the idea that I would repay the funds, but of course once I started down this slippery slope there was nothing but failure for me at the end." Hoyt's confessions and disappearance come "as a shock to the family," Christopher said in an interview. Christopher Hoyt practices intellectual property, business and criminal law out of the firm's New York office. "I'm not at liberty to make a statement that might jeopardize the investigation," he added. "The family is very concerned. Nobody knows where he is." Flynn said he believes Christopher Hoyt is telling the truth. The elder Hoyt was last seen on July 6 at his Clinton office, according to police. His Lexus 300, four-door sedan was found by police on July 17 in a parking lot near the Intermodal Transportation Center in Bridgeport. On July 20, Middletown Superior Court Judge Julia L. Aurigemma accepted the state disciplinary counsel's application to immediately suspend the elder Hoyt's law license. Legal Aid Lawyer Admits Videotaping Female Co-workers By Barbara Ross and Bill
Hutchinson A former Legal Aid Society lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to using a spy camera to videotape female co-workers changing their clothes in their office. Peter Barta won't go to jail for behavior he admitted was "creepy, disrespectful, juvenile and stupid," but he will lose his law license. "I offer no excuse or justification for my action. My behavior was inexcusable," added Barta, 32, in a letter he submitted to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus. But before admitting to felony crime of unlawful surveillance, he asked that the charge be dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor. "I'm not asking for forgiveness, but an opportunity to earn it," Barta of Queens said in his letter. Obus refused to reduce the charges, but agreed to go along with a recommendation from prosecutors to show mercy when Barta is sentenced Dec. 3. Under the plea agreement, the case will be dismissed and sealed once Barta completes a year of probation and counseling. A Georgetown University Law School graduate, Barta began working as a Legal Aid attorney in 2001. Between May 2004 and October 2006, he used a $179 Sharper Image minicam hidden in a clock to videotape female colleagues changing their clothes. The women would use an office to change out of their casual clothes into more dressy attire to appear in court. When investigators searched Barta's Kew Gardens home, they found it full of porn and adult toys, according to court papers. Claims of
Adultery, Forgery Have Firm New York Lawyer Daniel Portnoy wasn't having much luck. For days he'd been tracking his quarry. First he had called his house. Then he began stopping by unannounced, only to be turned away by a woman who said the man he sought was out of town. But now, on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 2, after days of mounting frustration, he finally had his target in his sights. As Portnoy watched from a parked car up the block, Albert Beveridge III, name partner of the Washington-based environmental boutique Beveridge & Diamond, pulled his silver Acura up to his home in the tony neighborhood of Wesley Heights in Northwest Washington. As Beveridge headed to his front door, Portnoy moved in, but the 72-year-old corporate litigator was too quick for him, doubling back into his car before Portnoy could reach him. As Portnoy ran back to his own car, Beveridge raced down the street to shake his pursuer. The chase was on. As Portnoy would later recount in a sworn affidavit, he soon caught up with Beveridge at a stoplight at the corner of Nebraska and New Mexico avenues, but when he tried to talk to Beveridge, the lawyer responded by executing a quick U-turn, brushing Portnoy out of the way. But Portnoy still managed to make his long-thwarted delivery, sticking a subpoena under the Acura's windshield wiper as Beveridge sped away. The incident was just the latest twist in a sordid story that has ensnared partners at 95-lawyer Beveridge & Diamond in allegations that include adultery and forgery. The dispute stems from a bitter divorce battle between firm partner John Guttmann and his wife, Nancy Lasater, a nonpracticing attorney who was previously co-chairwoman of the Law Practice Management Section of the D.C. Bar and a solo practitioner who often represented firms on ethics issues. The couple's real-life "War of the Roses" has pulled a litany of well-known Washington lawyers into the fray, including the elusive Beveridge, who is now senior counsel at the firm and was subpoenaed to testify about his role as a former trustee of the firm's 401(k) program. It was Lasater, acting pro se, who persuaded Maryland state Judge Durke Thompson to issue the subpoena to Beveridge, based on her allegation that Guttmann forged her signature while taking out a loan from the firm's 401(k) plan in 1993. That loan is one of three Lasater is investigating. "I'm entitled to all of the documents surrounding these three loans," Lasater says. "I need information." The firm argued against subpoenaing Beveridge because of his age and the fact that nearly 14 years have passed since the disputed loan was executed. But that argument didn't get far with Thompson. "If Mr. Guttmann is dipping into the 401(k) without Ms. Lasater's permission at the time and altered documents and now says 'I can't remember what I did,' it doesn't look too good," Thompson said during a Sept. 24 hearing on the firm's motion to quash the subpoena, according to a transcript. "And it may not look too good for Mr. Beveridge either if, indeed, there isn't an adequate documentation in the file." The firm and Guttmann both say Lasater's allegations are much ado about very little. "Mr. Guttmann denies Ms. Lasater's allegations and intends to defend himself vigorously," says Guttmann's attorney, Mark Carlin, a partner at Ain & Bank. "The only fair inference is that incomplete and misinformation was given to the Legal Times in a deliberate effort to embarrass Mr. Guttmann and to extract a larger settlement for Ms. Lasater." The firm hired Evan Miller, an Employee Retirement Income Security Act partner at Jones Day (who was formerly at Hogan & Hartson) and Hogan & Hartson ethics partner John Keeney Jr., to look into Lasater's allegations. Both lawyers concluded there was no wrongdoing on the part of the firm. Which isn't to say there were no problems. "I wish that we had been more scrupulous with the paperwork," says Robert Brager, managing partner of Beveridge & Diamond, "because then this wouldn't be an issue. "The firm," he adds, "is behind John 1,000 percent." Signing Your Wife's Name Guttmann is an environmental litigation partner focusing on commercial and securities cases. According to a court document filed by Lasater, he is the billing partner for the firm's largest client, Sunoco Inc. Lasater cites his high profile as an incentive for the firm "not to have to report itself for disciplinary proceedings under the affirmative whistle-blowing obligations." In 1995, Guttmann was tabbed by The American Lawyer as one of the 45 best lawyers under 45 years of age. At the time, Guttmann was serving as managing partner of the burgeoning environmental firm. When he stepped down at the end of his six-year run in January 1996, he left behind a record of tremendous growth. Under Guttmann's guidance, Beveridge & Diamond's head count and profits doubled, jumping to 60 lawyers and gross revenue of about $60 million. But it was also during this period that Guttmann served as one of three trustees to the firm's 401(k) plan. While a trustee, he took out three loans from his 401(k) over a three-year period beginning in 1992. In total, Guttmann borrowed $103,693 from the retirement plan. But taking those loans required spousal approval. And because of what the firm acknowledges is "sloppy bookkeeping," there is now a dispute over whether that approval was ever obtained. Lasater claims she had no knowledge of the three loans. She says it was only through discovery during the divorce proceedings that she came across copies of three promissory notes. "He took money out of our account without my consent," Lasater says. "I don't know where that money went." While she acknowledges that the first and third loan appear to have her signature, she maintains that the second loan, for just under $33,000, does not have her signature. About that fact, there appears to be no dispute. According to an August 2007 deposition, Guttmann says he wrote his wife's signature on the promissory note dated April 1994, but contends it was with her blessing. She insists that's not the case. "I haven't the faintest idea," said Guttmann, when asked in his deposition if he was aware of any other 401(k) participants at the firm receiving loans without the paperwork being done first. Further clouding the matter is the fact that records show that the effective date of the loan was in December 1993, but that the promissory note wasn't signed by the firm administrator until February 1994. And Guttmann did not sign the loan document for both himself and Lasater until April 1994. Beveridge, who was then a trustee of the firm's 401(k) program, signed his name without dating his signature. Beveridge declined to comment for this story. These points in particular drew Judge Thompson's attention. "It's certainly not Ms. Lasater's signature, and it's a little fuzzy whether she consented or whether he just forged it," Thompson said during the Sept. 24 court hearing, according to a transcript. "What does that mean? That means he [Guttmann] is committing acts of moral turpitude which could affect his license to practice. ... And if the law firm through the 401(k) and its trustees hasn't done what they were supposed to do, guess what, the law firm is now liable, OK?" An 'Alternative' Investment? Beveridge & Diamond was made aware of the loan dispute in a letter Lasater sent to the firm in December 2006. The firm responded on Jan. 7 with a letter from its general counsel, Cynthia Lewis, saying it would look into the allegations. The firm then hired Jones Day's Miller to investigate, and he concluded that there were no ERISA violations. In a letter to Lasater sent in March, Miller said the loan had been paid back in full and at a reasonable rate of interest. Miller added that "any adverse effect on the value of Mr. Guttmann's 401(k) plan account would be both speculative and trivial. And, in any event, the statute of limitations on ERISA violations you assert has long since expired." Miller says that prior to being withdrawn, the money Guttmann took from the 401(k) plan was invested in treasury bills and money markets, which provided the investment return of roughly 3.8 percent. The loans Guttmann repaid had an 8 percent interest rate. "It becomes an alternative investment that, at the end of the day, had more money in it as a consequence of the loan being at 8 percent," Miller says. "Ms. Lasater actually saw her interests as a contingent beneficiary enhanced." But Lasater says she does not know what Guttmann did with the money he borrowed. ERISA lawyers agree that there appears to be no violation by Guttmann, but there is puzzlement over the loan being approved before Guttmann signed the promissory note. "It would seem odd that a firm would permit the execution of a promissory note well after the loan had been executed to the participant," says Kenneth Robbett, an ERISA lawyer at Robbett & Robbett. Accounting for an Affair For Lasater, the issues aren't limited to Guttmann and the disputed loans. Dean "Holly" Cannon, a partner at the firm and managing partner from 1996 through the summer of 2001, admitted in an August 2006 deposition to having an affair with Guttmann that began in May 2005, six months before Guttmann filed for divorce, according to a transcript of that deposition. She is also helping Guttmann pay his soaring legal fees in the case. According to court documents and copies of personal checks produced by Guttmann in the litigation and provided to Legal Times by Lasater, Cannon has contributed more than $300,000 to help Guttmann pay his lawyers at Ain & Bank. Cannon declined to comment. According to court documents, Guttmann has signed promissory notes to repay the money to Cannon. Lasater alleges in a court document that Guttmann is borrowing money from Cannon and claiming it as a loan in order to "reduce both his obligation to support his family and to negate his equitable obligation to reimburse my legal fees." Court documents show Guttmann's assets totaling $2 million, with a net worth of $1.6 million. He claimed a gross monthly wage of $45,695. Guttmann declined to comment. Beveridge's Brager, who says he has been friends with Guttmann for roughly 20 years, has also been pulled into the fray. According to both Lasater and Brager, he told a psychologist appointed by the court to determine custody of the couple's two children that they would be better off with Guttmann. "Nancy has accused me of unethical conduct for talking to the psychologist," Brager says. "She's threatened to report me to the D.C. Bar. That claim on me reflects on her." This isn't the only pending litigation between Lasater and Guttmann. In August 2005, before Guttmann filed for divorce, Lasater filed a fraud case against him in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Md., alleging he moved money to a secret bank account. In that case, Lasater, who is seeking $2 million in punitive damages, is represented by Timothy McEvoy, a partner at Odin, Feldman & Pittleman. The case has been stayed by Judge Ann Harrington until the divorce is settled. The divorce trial date is Oct. 29. Moreover, there remains a question as to whether Guttmann could be subject to an ethics investigation by the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel. The investigation done on the firm's behalf by Hogan's Keeney determined that Beveridge & Diamond attorneys overseeing the 401(k) did not violate any ethics laws. "We were responding to a letter that said attorneys who received the authorization to execute the loan acted unethically," Keeney says. "And that's just not true." But Keeney says he did not specifically look into whether Guttmann acted unethically. Barry Cohen, a legal ethics and malpractice partner at Crowell & Moring, says the D.C. rules of conduct for lawyers are clear. "If he signed her name without her permission then it would be, for ethics purposes, a dishonest act," Cohen says. "It would fall under the category of dishonesty and could result in a censure or a suspension. We'd need to know the facts and the motivation."
Lawyer's Assistant Wore Wire LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An assistant to one of three lawyers charged bilking clients of millions of dollars in a diet drug settlement wore a wire and turned over notes of meetings to the FBI, a defense attorney said. Rebecca Phipps, an administrative assistant to Melbourne Mills Jr., secretly recorded conversations as early as June 2006 as the FBI investigated how Mills, William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham handled a $200 million settlement over the diet drug fen-phen, said Mills' attorney, Jim Shuffett of Lexington. "It appears reasonably certain that an intentional violation of (Mills') right to counsel occurred and that a hearing is necessary to develop and remedy the parameters of that violation," Shuffett said. Gallion and Cunningham, who are part owners of Preakness winner Curlin, and Mills are jailed in northern Kentucky pending a trial in January on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A civil court has ruled that they owe at least $42 million to their former clients. The use of Phipps as an informant became known in a motion filed last week seeking to exclude any evidence that Phipps turned over to FBI agent Mary Trotman. Shuffett wants U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman to hold a hearing to determine whether the evidence turned over by Phipps can be used against Mills in a criminal trial set for Jan. 7. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington did not immediately return calls seeking comment Tuesday morning. Mills wants 63 handwritten notes and 293 pages of e-mails and other memos Phipps turned over to federal authorities excluded from evidence in the case. Those notes involve meetings she attended between Mills and former attorney William Johnson or current attorneys James Shuffett and Calvin Fulkerson. Federal prosecutors turned over Phipps' information as part of the discovery process. But, prosecutors also told Shuffett that some of the information provided by Phipps could be protected under attorney-client privilege. Typically, attorney-client privilege does not extend to others who hear conversations between attorneys and their clients. However, because Phipps was working as Mills' legal assistant, the privilege also extends to her, Shuffett said. According to Shuffett's motion, Phipps wrote in July 2006 that her attorney, Burl McCoy, called and told her that an FBI agent on the case wanted her to attend a meeting at the office of Johnson, who was then representing Mills in a civil lawsuit regarding the settlement. McCoy said Phipps has cooperated with the FBI and will most likely continue to cooperate. Trotman has testified that the attorneys, who represented about 440 clients sickened by fen-phen, settled the case for $200 million. Trotman said the clients received $74.8 million from the settlement. Gallion received $30.4 million; Mills, $23.7 million; and Cunningham $20.7 million. A chunk of the settlement also went to other attorneys and employees involved in the case. Bertelsman has said that millions of dollars are still unaccounted for. Cunningham, 52, and Gallion, 56, bought Curlin for $57,000 as a yearling through their Midnight Cry Stable. They sold controlling interest in the horse in February for a reported $3.5 million to a group composed of Jess Jackson, founder of Kendall-Jackson wines; Satish Sanan's Padua Stables; and George Bolton, an investment banker. Fla.
Prosecutor Charged in Sex Sting Kills Self Associated Press DETROIT - A federal prosecutor from Florida accused of flying to Detroit last month to molest a 5-year-old girl committed suicide in his cell Friday in federal prison, authorities said. Assistant U.S. Attorney John D.R. Atchison was found unresponsive, taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, said Felicia Ponce, spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington. A previous suicide attempt was foiled in September, according to authorities. Atchison was being held in a special housing unit in the prison in Milan, about 36 miles southwest of Detroit. The administrative detention area houses all levels of prisoners, and Atchison had a cell to himself, Ponce said. She declined to say how Atchison killed himself or whether he was on suicide watch, saying the death was being investigated.Atchison, 53, was arrested last month at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities have said. Carried presents for girl After his arrest Atchison was placed on suicide watch, but it was lifted at the request of the defense, after Atchison assured a U.S. magistrate he wouldn't harm himself. Two days later, Atchison used a sheet in his Sanilac County jail cell to try to hang himself around 4 a.m. Another inmate yelled out to jailers, who kept Atchison from hurting himself, according to Sanilac County Sheriff Virgil Strickler. Atchison was later moved to the Milan prison. Atchison, a married father of three, was an assistant U.S. attorney in northern Florida, based in Pensacola. Gulf Breeze, Fla., residents have described him as a respected figure who coached girls' softball and basketball in a park a few blocks from his home. A statement released Friday by his lawyer, James Thomas, said Atchison had "done a lot of good in his life." "Unfortunately, he is going to be judged by his most recent charges and what we have read in the media, and not by the goodness, hard work or by the love of his family," the statement read. The statement also said Thomas would file a request to have the case dismissed. Authorities have said they found no cases of child molestation in Florida involving Atchison, who worked mostly on tax and financial crime cases. The prosecutor had been charged with three felonies. The most serious charge was crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone younger than 12. Conviction carries a minimum 30-year prison sentence and a maximum of life. Suspended
NY Lawyer Charged By Anthony Lin The Queens District Attorney's Office has announced criminal charges against a suspended lawyer who allegedly helped sell an elderly man's house out from under him. Attorney N. Stephen Sukhdeo is facing larceny and forgery charges for participating in a scheme with real estate broker Mohammed Keita. According to the prosecutor's office, the two men forged the signature of one of Mr. Sukhdeo's clients in order to sell his house while he was hospitalized with a stroke. The house was first sold to a company owned by Mr. Sukhdeo's brother and then "flipped" to Mr. Keita's daughter. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said the scheme netted its participants hundreds of thousands of dollars. Messrs. Sukhdeo and Keita each face up to 15 years in prison. Mail
Fraud Scheme Leads to Guilty Plea; By Jeff Coen A Chicago attorney pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges in federal court Thursday in connection with a scheme to cheat insurance and rental car companies by staging phony traffic accidents. Gerald Penovich acknowledged in a plea agreement that he instructed and directed some of those involved in the plot, which involved purposely colliding vehicles and filing false claims and bogus medical bills. He was the last of six defendants in the case to plead guilty, and all are to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in December. Penovich acted as his own lawyer in the case, court records show. A call to his law office Thursday was not immediately returned. Prosecutors said leaders of the scheme recruited players, orchestrated the fake accidents and directed the filing of false reports. Those taking part allegedly were told to consult with Penovich and others about making false claims, and they were instructed to visit medical clinics that were in on the scam. Fraudulent medical records were created at those facilities, according the plea agreement, and fraudulent insurance claims were filed with the victimized companies. In one 1998 incident, Penovich filed a personal injury claim of $64,000 and a damage claim of $9,750 with Avis Rent a Car, court records show. Avis eventually paid out $24,000, according to the plea agreement, based in part on bogus bills created by the Devon Family Medical Center. In a second incident the next year, Penovich allegedly helped the schemers after a staged two-car crash. Penovich was accused of filing claims for $25,000 with Enterprise Rent-a-Car and an insurer, which were settled for $13,000. Defendants associated with the Devon Family Medical Center generated false treatment records in that incident as well, court records show. Prosecutors are expected to recommend Penovich be sentenced to between 27 and 33 months in prison. The maximum penalty for the two counts of mail fraud Penovich has pleaded guilty to is 10 years in prison. I Covered up Church Porn: Att'y Associated Press Russell was charged Feb. 16 with destroying a computer that contained child pornography at Christ Church in Greenwich. Russell, a former attorney for the church, is accused of obstructing an FBI probe that led to the January conviction of the church's music director, Robert Tate, for possessing child pornography. Former President George Bush attended the church while growing up, and funeral services for his parents were held there. Russell was released on $100,000 bond and faces eight to 14 months in prison. "I just want to make perfectly clear how sorry I am for what I did in this case," he said yesterday. NY Lawyer
Accused of Saying He'd Make Charges By Joel Stashenko A special prosecutor will investigate a woman's claim that a part-time public defender promised he would make her drug case "go away" if she had sex with him. Latoya Gorton contends she had sexual encounters with attorney Matthew Swedick at his law office in Albany while he represented her. Mr. Swedick was assigned Ms. Gorton's case after she was arrested for having 39 grams of crack cocaine and $10,000 in a dwelling she shared with her boyfriend. In June, Ms. Gorton pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance under a plea agreement that carried a two-year prison sentence. Albany County Judge Thomas A. Breslin allowed her to withdraw her plea last week after her allegations against Mr. Swedick surfaced through her attorney, William Martin of Brooklyn. Another Albany County judge, Stephen Herrick, appointed attorney Michael Koenig to investigate Ms. Gorton's charges after District Attorney P. David Soares of Albany removed himself from the case. Mr. Swedick, who has been a part-time public defender in Albany County since 1999, has been placed on administrative leave with pay, according to county spokeswoman Kerri Battle. Officials are also reviewing his actions in a personnel inquiry separate from Mr. Koenig's, Ms. Battle said. James E. Long, Mr. Swedick's attorney, said the allegations are false. Mr. Long said that as a public defender, Mr. Swedick was in no position to make the charge against the woman "go away," as she contended. "It's absurd," Mr. Long said.
NY Lawyer Disbarred for Treating The Appellate Division, First Department, has disbarred a Manhattan personal injury lawyer for a litany of misconduct, including paying a non-lawyer "runner" to refer cases to him. Richard Boter had pleaded guilty in Nassau County to misdemeanor charges relating to that scheme, but the Manhattan appellate court noted that Mr. Boter, 32, had also faced a wholly separate disciplinary proceeding charging him with 51 counts of professional misconduct. These included presenting his clients with overreaching retainer agreements, settling cases without his clients' consent, falsifying clients' signatures on documents and lying to clients to convince them to withdraw disciplinary complaints. Mr. Boter also allegedly commingled client funds with those of his practice. In disbarring him, the court noted that though the lawyer "knew at the time that his actions were illegal and wrong, he displayed no remorse and seemed insensitive to interests of and risks to his clients, and he considered personal injury law to be a competitive 'business' to be expanded through referrals, with clients treated as commodities." Ex-top Lawyer Robles Faces Prison By Jay Weaver
Dressed
in a drab prison uniform, once high-flying lawyer Louis Robles
pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to charges of stealing
$13.5 million in settlements from thousands of elderly clients
ailing from exposure to asbestos.
Robles, 59, who lived in a Key Biscayne mansion before his legal empire collapsed, could spend his golden years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold accepted Robles' plea deal on the brink of trial, saying it was ''more appropriate'' than previous deals that had limited his ability to punish him more harshly. The earlier deal required Robles to plead guilty to two mail fraud offenses, which carried a maximum 10-year prison sentence. His sentencing is set for Dec. 4. Gold revoked his $1 million bond and placed him in the federal detention center last spring after Robles had spoken with his girlfriend about fleeing. During Tuesday's hearing, Robles said nothing beyond declaring his ''guilty'' plea and responding ''yes'' to standard questions about the plea from the judge. His defense lawyer, Hector Flores, also said little. Any apology from Robles would come at his sentencing. Prosecutors portrayed Robles as a scoundrel who defrauded about 4,400 clients by pocketing millions in asbestos settlements to pay for a lavish lifestyle: a 9,000-square-foot home on Biscayne Bay, ski properties in Telluride, Colo., and leased apartments in Los Angeles and New York, which he used for his ventures into the motion picture and recording industry. During the 1990s, Robles and wife, Ruth, now divorced, were spending about $2 million a year in mortgage payments and living expenses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Davis called Robles' modus operandi through the 1990s and early 2000 period ''an ever-expanding pyramid scheme.'' He stole asbestos settlements from trust accounts and kept almost all the money for himself while paying small amounts to some victims, Davis said. The ''gap'' between his client obligations and trust account funds grew at a rate of $1 million annually, Davis said. By September 2002, he had ''misappropriated'' $13,522,159.92 owed to clients, leaving less than $25,000 to pay them. Robles allegedly tried to cover up the theft through sleight-of-hand accounting practices by charging bogus expenses to clients. Davis said Robles' victims, whose claims ranged from a few hundred dollars to $185,000, were agreeable to receiving a fraction of the money because they have waited so long -- more than a decade in some instances. The victims are expected to receive roughly 8 percent of their total settlements. Among them: A 79-year-old widow from Jacksonville, who was going to testify against Robles at trial. He owed her $177,952.87 but will now get $14,236 under the payout plan. ''She is living on a fixed income and has not received any settlement money in many years,'' Davis wrote in court papers in July. ``She is going blind and fears that she will die soon without receiving any of the money owed to her during her lifetime.'' Robles, who was initially charged in a 41-count indictment, plead guilty to defrauding three asbestos victims in 2001-02. His victims -- many of whom have died or are dying from lung-related diseases -- are spread all over the country. Both prosecutors and a private attorney assigned by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court to take charge of thousands of Robles' cases pushed for the plea deal. They said there would be no more money to recover from Robles -- other than the $1.1 million frozen after his indictment last year. Miami attorney Thomas Tew,
who represents Robles' asbestos victims in a class action case,
hailed the final agreement. Said Tew: ``This will mean a lot to a
lot of people who otherwise won't be fully compensated for their
losses.''
Federal Prosecutor Arrested for Making Date DETROIT -- A U.S.
prosecutor accused of using the Internet to arrange for sex with a
5-year-old girl flew to Michigan carrying sexual materials and
presents for the child, authorities said Tuesday. John D.R. Atchison, 53, of
Gulf Breeze, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport after several weeks of Internet conversations between the
prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old
girl, authorities say. Officials said Atchison, an
assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, made the trip anticipating a
sexual encounter but was arrested instead. He was carrying presents
for the girl, including a doll and hoop earrings, and also had
sexual materials, including petroleum jelly, Sheriff Mark Hackel
said. A federal grand jury added
a charge Tuesday of crossing state lines with intent to have sex
with someone younger than 12. Atchison also faces charges of use of
the Internet to seek illicit sex and interstate travel to engage in
illicit sexual contact. He could face up to life in prison.
Defense lawyer James Thomas
declined to comment after the hearing. Atchison's boss, U.S.
Attorney Gregory R. Miller, said that his staff was "deeply saddened
by the arrest." He said his office was cooperating with the FBI,
U.S. prosecutors and Michigan investigators and believed that "in
the end, justice will be served." The status of Atchison's
employment was unclear. The prosecutor is a married
father of three, and Miller said that the staff was concerned about
Atchison's family. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to them," he
said. According to an FBI
affidavit, Atchison sent an instant message Aug. 29 to Macomb County
sheriff's Detective Linda Findlay, who was posing as a mother who
was willing to let men have sex with her daughter. Atchison messaged her that
he was "very much a family man," FBI agent Matthew A. Bowman said.
The prosecutor and
undercover detective held almost daily online chats after that, and
he told her that he wanted to have sex with the young girl, the FBI
agent said. Federal agents obtained a
search warrant Monday for Atchison's Florida home. There was no word
on what they sought or found. Also Tuesday, a youth
sports organization in which Atchison is active said it was placing
him on leave until the charges were resolved. Atchison is president
of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, which runs youth baseball,
softball, cheer leading, soccer, football and basketball programs.
In a statement, the group said he had been involved with the
organization for a decade.
Famous Litigator Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Clients, September 18, 2007 MIAMI -- A once-prominent
attorney who specialized in asbestos lawsuits pleaded guilty Tuesday
to fraud charges involving thousands of former clients and could
face up to 15 years in federal prison. Louis S. Robles, 59,
pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud under an agreement with
prosecutors that requires restitution of $1.3 million be paid to
about 4,400 of his former clients. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold set
sentencing for Dec. 4, with each count carrying a potential
five-year prison term. Last spring, Robles agreed
to plead guilty, but Gold rejected it because the maximum possible
sentence was 10 years in prison. Gold expressed concern that the
sentence was not long enough, especially considering the restitution
was only a fraction of what Robles allegedly stole from clients.
Prosecutors, however, said
the $1.3 million in a frozen bank account was the only amount that
could be recovered from Robles, who has fallen far from his
once-flamboyant lifestyle. An attorney who once jetted around the
country and was known for his stylish clothes now is being held
without bail at Miami's federal detention center. Robles once represented
more than 7,000 clients in lawsuits against companies that made
asbestos, which has been linked to cancer and other serious health
problems. Over a 13-year period ending in fall 2002, Robles
collected more than $164 million in about 75,000 lawsuit
settlements, according to court documents. Reprimand
Sought for Local Attorney By Henry Gottlieb When an attorney-client
relationship turns nasty and litigation seems imminent, is it OK for
the lawyer to send the kind of aggressive letter that attorneys
sometimes write to scare off potential adversaries? The answer is no, the
Disciplinary Review Board suggests in recommending a reprimand for a
lawyer who wrote such a letter, Harry Levin of Levin & Cyphers in
Toms River, N.J. Levin's actions violated
Rules of Professional Conduct requiring courtesy to participants in
the justice system, RPC 3.2, and against trying to intimidate the
filer of an ethics grievance, RPC 8.4(c), the board said in an
opinion made public Monday, In re Levin, DRB 07-132. In a letter sent to
personal injury client Linda DiBella on Aug. 29, 2005, after she
filed a grievance that suggested he mishandled escrow funds, Levin
warned he would sue her and would ask a judge to send her to a
psychiatrist if she pursued an ethics grievance. "As soon as the complaint
is dismissed by the ethics committee, which it is sure to be, I will
file suit against you and your husband," Levin wrote. "It is obvious to me that
there is something wrong with you," he continued. "I do not know if
it's a function of some medical condition you have or some other
emotional limitation, but I am not going to stand by while you try
to blemish my reputation." He concluded, "I am also
exploring seeking court intervention to have you examined by a
physician and psychiatrist. If you are suffering from some ailment
that is affecting your thinking, I want that known by the ethics
committee as well." The dispute centered on
whether Levin had properly handled a medical lien on a $110,000
crash settlement he had obtained for DiBella and whether he owed her
money he had held in escrow. DiBella filed an ethics
grievance when the dispute arose in 2004, withdrew it to pursue
negotiations with Levin, and re-filed it when she didn't like his
proposed resolution. An investigator for the
District IIIA Ethics Committee in Ocean County found the grievance
over the escrowed money to be without merit. The panel dismissed a
formal complaint prompted by the letter. What's more, although the
DRB reinstated the ethics case prompted by the letter, it found
credibility problems with the client and the members of the client's
family, saying they "claimed an ill-fitting fragility" in portraying
their relationship with the lawyer. Yet credibility and
motivation didn't matter because the letter was unethical on its
face, the DRB concluded, stating, "That respondent's letter was
discourteous is unquestionable. Moreover, it contained threats of
lawsuits and of court-ordered psychiatric examinations, threats that
had the obvious purpose of frightening DiBella into withdrawing her
grievance." "The only inference to be
drawn was that respondent's pledge to sue DiBella and her husband
was intended to either frighten or bully her into abandoning her
grievance," the DRB said. Levin's lawyer, Frederick
Dennehy of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer in Woodbridge declined to
comment except to say he would ask the state Supreme Court to
reverse the DRB decision. The defense argued that
Levin's letter was prompted by frustration over the client's refusal
to recognize that the lawyering was proper. By Levin's reckoning,
the filing of the grievance, its withdrawal and its refiling was
evidence of an ongoing dispute with a tough-minded client that could
end up in court. As Levin put it in a
certification, "While the letter certainly demonstrates extreme
frustration it is not unethical. In fact, it is no different than
letters write every minute of the day, advising the claimant of a
vociferous defense to baseless charges." Besides warning lawyers to
keep their fingers on the edit button when venting their anger, the
DRB opinion serves as a reminder that the lawyer-client relationship
can be worse than a war between adversaries. Take, for instance, what
DiBella told the ethics committee. "She recalled that on one
occasion he became so upset with her that he had 'pulled out of his
pocket a whole bunch of needles, and he goes, because of clients
like you, that's why I have to take these,'" the DRB said. Levin,
who takes insulin shots for diabetes denied the story. During the dispute, Levin
called in a policeman turned private investigator to dig up
information on the DiBellas. They had "constantly bragged about
getting over on other people and filing lawsuits and claims against
others," Levin told the district ethics committee. "He also wanted to use the
same lawyer skills against the DiBellas that he had used so
effectively to litigate their claims for them," the DRB said.
Levin said he halted the
investigation after a week because the detective called on DiBella's
son's fiancée, which went beyond the operative's instructions to
make a records search only. Levin's former associate,
Laura Nunnink, now of November, Nunnink & Napoliello in Glen Rock,
told the ethics committee that DiBella was one of the most difficult
clients she had ever met and had claimed to be a "witch" who could
read people's minds. DiBella later said she was joking. Lawyer
Found Naked at Courthouse By The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA -- A defense attorney who was found naked with a
14-year-old girl in a city courthouse pleaded no contest to charges
of sexually assaulting the teen and five other girls. Larry Charles, 50, entered the pleas on Monday, the day his trial
was scheduled to begin. Authorities have said a sheriff's deputy making his rounds in the
courthouse on Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, looked into a
lawyers' lounge and discovered Charles and the girl. Charles, who often worked in the courthouse as a criminal defense
attorney, was charged with rape and related offenses in that case.
After his arrest, five other girls came forward and testified
that Charles assaulted them. Some of the girls testified they were
assaulted multiple times from 2000 to the time of Charles' arrest in
January 2007. The girls were ages 5 to 10 at the time of the alleged attacks
and are now ages 11 to 17. They testified the assaults occurred in
motels, Charles' law offices, safe deposit box rooms at banks, and
in the lawyers' lounge and a court anteroom. Charles was charged in those cases with multiple counts of rape,
sexual assault, corruption of a minor and other charges. He pleaded
no contest to all the counts. After entering the no contest pleas, Charles' bail was revoked
and he was sent to prison, pending his sentencing on Dec. 20.
Prosecutors said they plan to recommend a sentence of 25 to 50 years
in prison. Three of the six girls are sisters, one girl was a cousin of
theirs, and the two other girls are sisters, Assistant District
Attorney James Carpenter said. "The defendant befriended their families and started gradually
conditioning them to be molested" and eventually escalating to rape,
Carpenter said. An attempt to reach Charles' lawyer, Angelo L. Cameron, for
comment was not successful. A woman answering the phone at his
listed office telephone number said that he did not live there, then
hung up. Husband-and Wife NY Attorneys Busted in Fraud By Daniel Wise Both James Christo and his wife, Remila Christo, have posted the
$100,000 bail that Southern District Judge Richard M. Berman set for
them. The couple were charged with helping clients concoct fraudulent
stories and evidence to support their asylum claims. James Christo's
lawyer, John W. Mitchell, said his client "is innocent and intends
to vigorously fight this case." Ex Prosecutor Admits Sex With Judge in
Courthouse, By The Associated Press Laurie Hurst, 29, admitted misconduct and agreed to a three-year
suspension, with the understanding she would serve only serve six
months with the rest of the suspension stayed upon successful
completion of 2½ years of probation, according to documents
submitted Thursday to the Colorado Supreme Court's Presiding
Disciplinary Judge William Lucero. Lucero will decide whether to accept the recommendation from a
panel of lawyers. Hurst, previously known as Laurie Steinman, was fired on Dec. 22.
Grafton M. Biddle, 57, resigned his position after Hurst was fired.
A complaint filed in April said the affair began in the spring of
2006. Both admit to having sex in the judge's chambers and "on a
number of occasions Judge Biddle would 'sneak' into the women's
shower facilities in the courthouse early in the morning," the
complaint said. A message left after business hours for Hurst was not immediately
returned. Allegations of misconduct in Hurst's case include misuse of
judicial officer chambers, disrepute upon the judiciary and the
district attorney's office, and potential tainting of bias in the
two trials. Biddle's case is still pending. Lawyer
and Two Judges He Bribed Are Sentenced to Prison Holbrook Mohr A prominent attorney and
the two Mississippi judges he bribed for favorable rulings were
sentenced Friday to several years each in federal prison.
Paul Minor, a once highly
regarded attorney who amassed a fortune from asbestos, tobacco,
medical malpractice and car safety cases, was ordered to serve 11
years in prison. He also was fined $2.7 million and must pay
restitution. In handing down the
sentence, Southern District of Mississippi Judge Henry T. Wingate
told Minor: "You distinguished yourself in the practice of law.
Speaking metaphorically, Lady Justice must be sobbing." Minor and his
co-defendants, former judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield, will
appeal their convictions, according to Minor's lawyer, high-profile
Washington attorney Abbe Lowell. "The various decisions
Judge Wingate made will keep the appeals courts busy for a long
time," he said on the courthouse steps. The three men have long
claimed they were the victims of a Republican vendetta because of
Minor's support of Democratic causes. The attorney acknowledged
guaranteeing loans for the two judges, but claimed he was only
helping friends and expected nothing in return. Dave Fulcher, one of the
federal prosecutors in the case, said the sentence reflects the
seriousness of the crimes. "The defendants put justice
for sale and the sentence is a deterrent to anyone who might
consider corrupting the judicial system," Fulcher said. Mississippi Supreme Court
Justice Oliver Diaz Jr., who was acquitted in the bribery scheme in
2005, echoed the sentiment that the prosecution was politically
motivated. "When the federal
government begins to politically prosecute, everyone should be
afraid," said Diaz, who served seven years as a Republican in the
state House of Representatives before becoming a judge. In the 2005 trial, the jury
failed to reach verdicts on some charges against Minor, Teel and
Whitfield, so they were retried in March. Minor was convicted on 11
charges including racketeering and bribery. The two judges, who
handled trials in coastal Harrison County, were convicted of mail
fraud and bribery. On Friday, Whitfield was
sentenced to more than nine years in prison and fined $125,000. Teel
was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and he and Minor were
ordered jointly to pay $1.5 million in restitution to USF&G
Insurance Co. That amount involved a settlement reached in Teel's
court between the insurer and one of Minor's clients. Minor was convicted of
guaranteeing $140,000 in loans to Whitfield in 1998, then using
cash, a third party and a backdated promissory note to conceal that
Minor paid off the loan. Whitfield awarded Minor's client $3.6
million in a lawsuit. The Mississippi Supreme Court later reduced
the award to $1.6 million. Minor was also accused of
guaranteeing a loan of $24,500 to Teel the same year. Prosecutors
said Teel forced through a $1.5 million settlement in one of Minor's
cases before his court. During the sentencing
hearing, Minor thanked Wingate for jailing him last year when his
bond was revoked, in part for excessive drinking, because that time
in jail helped him confront his alcoholism. The judge gave Minor credit
for the year he has served but said he could not give Minor
leniency. "The crimes for which you've been convicted are just so
great to a system of justice," he said. Teel and Whitfield asked
for short sentences because of family obligations. Teel's wife has
multiple sclerosis. Whitfield, who divorced his wife before she died
last year, has a son in school. The judge allowed the two
men to report to prison Dec. 27 so they would have time to get their
affairs in order. Dad on
the Lam: Missing Lawyer Stuns Partner-Son By Douglas S. Malan "I have embezzled funds
from my clients," business law attorney Jonathan Hoyt wrote to his
son, attorney Christopher Hoyt. "Like most lawyers who fall into
this trap I always did it with the idea that I would repay the funds
but of course once I started down this slippery slope there was
nothing but failure waiting for me at the end." The letter is dated July 7,
one day after Jonathan Hoyt, 58, was last seen in The Hoyt Law
Group’s Clinton office, according to police. As of late last week,
he was still missing. Clinton police are investigating his
disappearance. Hoyt’s tan 1999 Lexus 300 four-door sedan was found
by police on July 17 in a private parking lot near the Intermodal
Transportation Center in Bridgeport. On July 20, Middletown
Superior Court Judge Julia L. Aurigemma accepted the state
disciplinary counsel’s application to immediately suspend the elder
Hoyt’s law license. A trustee has been appointed to take over the
firm’s client files. Fatherly Advice Hoyt, who resides in
Westbrook, was admitted to the state bar in 1974, a year after
graduating from Southern Methodist University School of Law. His
Martindale-Hubbell profile states that his practice provides "a full
range of legal services for commercial transactions." Hoyt was respected enough
in his field that he gave seminars on topics such as international
taxation and limited liability corporations. But he also had his
troubles. In his letter, Hoyt makes reference to an illness, which
appears to be depression. The past few years have
also been littered with his own personal divorce, foreclosure and
bankruptcy proceedings. And Assistant Disciplinary Counsel Frank P.
Blando noted in his application for the suspension of Hoyt’s law
license that Hoyt is under investigation for $800 worth of
overdrafts to his Interest on Lawyers Trust Account. In the letter, Jonathan
Hoyt advises his son, who is based in The Hoyt Law Group’s office in
the Empire State Building in New York, on how Christopher Hoyt might
continue his law practice. "Once you receive this
letter, you will have to make arrangements to come back to the
office and start working on the mess I have left you," the letter
states. "You will need someone with a clear mind to advise you as to
how to wrap up the Hoyt Law Group, LLC." The elder Hoyt added: "I
think in most cases [of defrauded clients] our malpractice policy
and surety bonds will compensate the victims. My recommendation
would be to dissolve the Hoyt Law Group LLC and have you practice
under your name only in [New York City] or join a firm." In his letter, the elder
Hoyt listed his victims. "Deceived her," is the notation next to the
name of a woman from whom Jonathan Hoyt took funds after a real
estate closing in Seattle. Also listed is a trust for two minor
children. "There are surety bonds so they should be compensated,"
Hoyt wrote, referring to the children’s trust. ‘Totally Out Of Character’
Howard M. Gould, of Gould &
Gillin in Old Saybrook, described Hoyt as a "very conservative,
standard professional transactional attorney," and called his
disappearance and his embezzlement confession "very surprising."
"The reaction you got from
me is the reaction police are getting from everyone," Gould said.
"There was not the slightest clue that any of this was in the works.
It seems totally out of character." Gould said his office has
consulted two potential clients who lost money in dealings with
Hoyt. He said he has "reason to believe" that federal authorities
are involved, based on his discussions with local police.
Michael J. Sweeney, of
Crosby & Cronan in Madison, is serving as trustee for Jonathan
Hoyt’s clients. Sweeney said he has "no idea" how much money the
elder Hoyt embezzled. He said computer hard drives from the Hoyt Law
Group are in the Clinton Police Department’s possession, and he
planned to submit a written request to the local state’s attorney’s
office to obtain a copy of the hard drive. Christopher Hoyt contacted
Statewide Bar Counsel Michael P. Bowler twice in the last two weeks
to provide information. In one letter to Bowler, the younger Hoyt
said he wanted to "request instructions on how to proceed in order
to protect existing clients and the law firm from any additional
harm." In another letter, Christopher Hoyt states that his father
"suffers from clinical depression and is under psychiatric care."
The older Hoyt also has a
recent history of legal problems. In March 2007, he and his wife
Ellen B. Hoyt filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Haven with
creditor debts of nearly $280,000 and debts to the Internal Revenue
Service and state of Connecticut totaling nearly $29,000.
The bankruptcy filing came
eight months after a foreclosure on a property in Durham and almost
a year after the couple filed for divorce, court records reveal.
The bankruptcy case was
dismissed by Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Albert S. Dabrowski on
April 26 when Hoyt failed to file certain required documents. The
day before, the couple’s divorce was finalized. Christopher Hoyt did
not return a telephone call by press time last week. But in a short
to-whom-it-may-concern letter, it’s clear that the father was trying
to preserve his son’s career and reputation. "I, Jonathan Hoyt, am
solely responsible for the thefts that have happened concerning The
Hoyt Law Group, LLC Connecticut’s office," it states. "My assistant
Melinda Winchell and my son, Christopher, had no knowledge of these
thefts and embezzlements." Litigious
NY Lawyer Barred From Suing on By Mark Fass In throwing out Eleanor
Capogrosso's legal malpractice action against the attorney she hired
to litigate a medical malpractice claim, Manhattan Supreme Court
Justice Debra A. James also issued an order requiring Ms. Capogrosso
to receive approval from an administrative judge before filing
future actions or motions on her own behalf. "Though a review of the
record shows that plaintiff has flirted with placing her own license
to practice law in jeopardy, of more moment is her pattern of
commencing frivolous and repetitious actions," Justice James wrote
in
Capogrosso v. Kansas,
112291/06. "Based on a pattern of vexatious conduct and repetitive
litigation and proceedings brought by plaintiff . . . this court
grants a protective order prohibiting plaintiff from initiating any
further litigation as party plaintiff without prior approval."
Ms. Capogrosso graduated
from the Quinnipiac University School of Law in 1987. She practices
transportation law from her office on 42nd Street. Last year, she initiated a
pro se legal-malpractice claim (one of five such actions recently
filed by Ms. Capogrosso in New York state courts) against solo
practitioner Tina Kansas. Ms. Capogrosso claimed Ms. Kansas'
negligence resulted in the dismissal of one of her two medical
malpractice claims. Justice James dismissed the
case against Ms. Kansas on statute of limitations grounds. After
reviewing state court records, the judge also barred Ms. Capogrosso
from pursuing any further claims without the "prior approval of the
Administrative Judge of the court in which she seeks relief."
Justice James noted that of
the 15 cases filed by Ms. Capogrosso between 2002 and 2006, only one
proved meritorious - a landlord-tenant claim against Ms. Kansas, who
was once also her landlord. Justice James cited Ms.
Capogrosso's challenges to "the integrity of at least three judges"
- including Justice James - and a 2003 decision, Capogrosso v.
Hospital for Special Surgery, 112075/02, in which Supreme Court
Justice Eileen Bransten stated that "Capogrosso narrowly escapes
sanctions this time but hopefully will nonetheless learn that she
must follow court orders." Reached by phone yesterday,
Ms. Capogrosso detailed the 16 cases for which she is listed as a
plaintiff on the state court Web site. The actions include the
five legal and two medical malpractice claims, two landlord-tenant
actions, four suits against various government agencies and two
suits involving money allegedly owed to or by Ms. Capogrosso. Ms.
Capogrosso could not recall any details about the final case,
Capogrosso v. Dept. of Health, 101002/02, in which she appeared
pro se. The attorneys and firms
that have represented her include: Mark Kessner; Jonathan M.
Landsman; Lutfy & Santora; Fried & Epstein; Calabro & Fleishell;
D'Ambrosio & D'Ambrosio (twice); and Ms. Kansas. John W. Fried of Fried &
Epstein said his firm represented Ms. Capogrosso in two cases, an
insurance matter that was settled and an action against New York
City's Department of Investigation. (Because the insurance case was
filed in federal court, it is not included among the 16 suits listed
on the state's Web site.) Mr. Fried noted that his
firm is now a defendant in a sixth legal malpractice case filed by
Ms. Capogrosso, this one in New Jersey state court. The remaining attorneys who
have represented Ms. Capogrosso either could not be reached or
declined to comment. "This has a lot to do with
a lot of things other than [the] 16 lawsuits," Ms. Capogrosso said.
Namely, Ms. Capogrosso
claimed, the repeated filings are a by-product of a judicial
conspiracy against her, borne from her filing of complaints against
Justices Eileen A. Rakower and Carol Robinson Edmead. "Ever since I filed a
judicial complaint against Rakower and then Edmead, every case that
I've had has been dismissed, a file has been missing from the
courthouse [and] judges aren't disclosing complaints I made to the
advisory committee on their judicial questionnaires," Ms. Capogrosso
said. "When a lawyer tries to
complain about actions of a judge, they will face such retaliation
that they will try to run you out of business. To every lawyer out
there: Do not complain about a judge." Justice Edmead provided a
single exception to her order, allowing Ms. Capogrosso to appeal the
order itself without prior approval. Ms. Capogrosso said that she
intends to avail herself of that exception. Capogrosso v. Kansas
will become Ms. Capogrosso's fourth case pending before the
Appellate Division. Ms. Kansas could not be
reached for comment. Lawyer
Indicted For Paying More By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys Warren Todd Hoeffner, a
partner in Houston plaintiffs firm Hoeffner & Bilek, was named in a
federal indictment that alleges he paid more than $3 million in
"bribes and kickbacks" to two former claims adjustors for The
Hartford Insurance Co. in connection with $34 million in settlements
of Hoeffner's silica-related suits. Hoeffner and his
co-defendants, Rachel Rossow and John Prestage, the former claims
adjustors for The Hartford, each face one count of conspiracy, one
count of conspiracy to money launder, two counts of wire fraud, four
counts of mail fraud and six counts of monetary transactions with
criminally derived property. The grand jury indictment,
which was made public on June 27, alleges Rossow received
approximately $2,681,874 in "bribes and kickbacks" and Prestage
received about $764,476 in "bribes and kickbacks." The indictment
also notes that Hoeffner received about $5,366,839 in attorney fees
from the settlement. Hoeffner, 42, pleaded not
guilty to the charges at an arraignment on June 27 before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Frances H. Stacy of the Southern District of Texas.
He was released after posting a $100,000 deposit on a $250,000 bond
Well
That's Hardly Playing Fair: Firm Asks Bank About Buying Opposing
Counsel's Mortgage By Henry Gottlieb A federal judge denounced
lawyers at Hackensack's Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard on
Thursday, and threatened them with sanctions, for trying to meddle
with an opposing attorney's personal finances. Two Cole, Schotz partners admitted to U.S. District Judge Harold
Ackerman that an associate asked a bank counsel whether a client of
the firm could buy mortgages the bank held on property of litigation
foe Gregg Trautmann of Rockaway. Such purchases would have made Cole, Schotz's client - a lender
defending itself against six suits brought by Trautmann - holder of
the mortgages on his home and office. Nothing in the record explained what the Cole, Schotz associate,
or the partner who authorized the inquiry, had in mind. But Ackerman said he reached the "evil conclusion" that the goal
was to control Trautmann's mortgages so Cole, Schotz's client,
Kennedy Funding Inc. of Hackensack, could "put the squeeze, as we
use that colloquial phrase, on him and on the litigation." Trautmann said he believed the idea was to have Kennedy Funding
hold his mortgages so it could argue that he lacked the independence
to represent clients suing the company. He asked that Cole, Schotz
be sanctioned and disqualified. But the firm didn't wait for a ruling. On Friday, it told the
court it was terminating its representation of Kennedy Funding in
the four federal cases in which Trautmann is their adversary. At Thursday's hearing, the administrative chair of Cole, Schotz's
litigation department, Steven Klein, had apologized to the judge,
calling the inquiry about the mortgages "improper" and "horrible."
He said "it was the worse exercise of judgment that could have been
made." "It is a blemish which we will obviously work as hard as we can,
as we have for almost the 80 years of our existence, to remedy and
rectify," Klein told Ackerman. He said an internal investigation of
the incident had started at the firm, Bergen County's largest. Even so, Klein insisted that the call to the bank for information
was proper and that the offense consisted of just one "very bad
question" at the end of the call. He says the firm would never have
condoned the actual purchase of the mortgages. "It would have gone
no further," he said. Ackerman did not seem mollified and suggested the U.S. attorney
might be interested in the affair. "I don't know whether it is attempted criminal behavior or not,
but I am going to find out," he said. "Lawsuits can get awfully
frisky, we all know that, and in the heat of battle I see lawyers
lose it," he said. "But that, I respectfully submit, does not excuse
in any way, shape or form the kind of back alley tactic which has
been described to me and [is] now conceded." Violated
in the Peeper's Court By Laura Italiano
A Legal Aid Society lawyer
was charged in Manhattan yesterday with sneaking a camcorder
disguised as a clock into the offices of his young female colleagues
so he could videotape them as they changed in and out of their
business suits. From 2004 until last
October, attorney Peter Barta, 32, switched the motion-activated
device in and out of at least five women's offices in the Legal
Aid's TriBeCa suite, and succeeded in capturing OBJECTION!
Peter Barta
nude images of at least
one of them But the criminal defense
lawyer was eventually outfoxed by his foxy prey. One of his victims realized
she had a peeping Tom on her hands when she found a picture of the
same mysterious, reappearing clock in a copy of a catalog for The
Sharper Image - under the heading, "Security Camcorder Hidden in a
Clock." The unnamed woman and her
female colleagues took a closer look at the clock in question, which
was sitting on a colleague's desk - but aimed toward the desk of one
of the women. When they were able to pop
out its computer memory card and download images the gals alerted
their bosses, who then trained a hidden camera of their own on the
offending device. For a few days, the cameras
stared down each other. Then, last Oct. 26, Legal
Aid's camera caught Barta on tape entering the office and removing
his camera-clock. "It's a betrayal of trust,"
a Legal Aid lawyer said. "We're all colleagues; we work in close
quarters, and there's an assumption of trust." Barta, a graduate of
Stuyvesant HS and Georgetown Law School, resigned immediately.
"We don't tolerate this
kind of conduct," said Legal Aid Society spokeswoman Pat Bath. "We
wanted him out as quickly as we could get him out." On Barta's home computer
from Kew Gardens, Queens, prosecutors said they found images of a
female employee's "breasts and buttocks." Barta faces up to four
years in prison on felony charges of unlawful surveillance. He could
also be disbarred. Barta was one of 140
lawyers working in Legal Aid's offices at Church and Thomas streets.
He allegedly targeted
younger women - some working their first legal jobs - who were known
to dress in their offices. Insiders explained that the women either
belonged to gyms, or kept their good suits in their offices. Denied
Entry to Bar, Law School Grad's "Rubber Check" Business Now Called
"Fraud on Court" By Michael Booth Though finding his
fabrication of check assignments did not make Triffin liable for
common law fraud, the judges said his actions might constitute a
fraud on the court itself. On Thursday, they remanded the case,
Triffin v. Automatic Data Processing Inc., A-6986-03, to the
trial court for a hearing on the possible imposition of sanctions.
The court noted that
Triffin's conduct is under review by the Essex County, N.J.,
prosecutor and the state attorney general and that "all parties
defending future claims by plaintiff on purchased dishonored checks
are on notice to scrupulously explore the legitimacy of any tendered
assignments." Triffin's standard practice
is to buy dishonored checks from check-cashing companies and then
present them to the issuing companies. If they refuse to pay, he
files claims against them in New Jersey Superior Court, Special
Civil Part. His targets have accused him, with success, of drafting
phony assignment contracts, often containing signatures of
questionable authenticity. In addition, many of the bad checks turn
out to be counterfeit, stolen, altered or forged, according to court
records. At last count, Triffin, of
Drexel Hill, Pa., had filed at least 4,000 lawsuits on bad checks,
and the appellate division judges cited 14 separate appeals stemming
from such suits. Thursday's ruling stems
from Triffin's appeal from a 2004 verdict by an Essex County
Superior Court jury for Roseland, N.J.-based Automatic Data
Processing Inc., the world's largest payroll processor. When Triffin,
acting pro se, sued ADP and others for refusal to pay him as a
holder in due course, ADP fought back with counterclaims of
common-law fraud, RICO and negligence, alleging the checks were
counterfeit and that Triffin knew it. The trial judge dismissed
Triffin's complaint on summary judgment. On the counterclaim, the
jury found Triffin defrauded ADP because Triffin admitted that
parties selling him dishonored checks had not signed the assignment
agreements -- he in fact pasted scanned signatures on the 12-page
documents. The jury awarded ADP
$132,600 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages on
the common-law fraud claim, which the trial judge reduced to
$5,919.80 in compensatory damages and $17,759.40 in punitive
damages. But Judges Thomas Lyons,
Jack Sabatino and Edwin Stern vacated the verdict, finding ADP's
common-law fraud claim against Triffin should be dismissed, because
it failed to meet one of the five criteria for common-law fraud:
reasonable reliance by another party. ADP had decided to fight
the claims without relying on the manufactured assignments. "An
exhaustive review of the record does not demonstrate that defendant
either took, or refrained from taking, steps to protect its
interests based upon the misrepresentation that the assignment
agreements were authentic," Lyons wrote for the panel. "Our courts have long held,
however, that where there is a civil wrong, there should be a
remedy," Lyons said. "In this case, there has been a wrong in our
view, a possible fraud on the court." He cited R. 1:4-8(a), which
requires that pro se parties like Triffin file authentic documents
with the court. "Unlike common law fraud on
a party, fraud on a court does not require reliance. Separate and
distinct from court rules and statutes, courts possess an inherent
power to sanction an individual for committing an act of fraud on
the court," said Lyons. "Therefore, recognizing
that the trial court possesses inherent power to sanction a fraud on
the court, we remand this matter to the trial court for further
proceedings," Lyons said. "Following a hearing, the trial court may
impose sanctions on plaintiff on its own motion, or on the
application of defendant, or both." ADP's lawyer, Dennis
Kearney, while disappointed with the vacating of the verdict, says
banks and other potential payers should be gratified by the court's
ruling. "The most important thing is that the whole world is on
notice. This guy's been exposed," he says. "The way he does business
is over. The opinion gives every lower court in New Jersey, where
this guy swims, the ability to shoot him down." Kearney says his client
will not hesitate to ask the judge to sanction Triffin. "We're going
to follow the instructions of the court," says Kearney, of Florham
Park, N.J.'s Day Pitney. Triffin did not return a
telephone message left at his home, which doubles as his office.
Officials from the Essex
County Prosecutor's Office and the Division of Criminal Justice did
not return telephone calls seeking comment. Triffin has been sanctioned
before for his check collection practices. In 2004, in Triffin v.
Commerce Bank, a three-judge panel upheld frivolous litigation fees
against him for $5,723. The special civil judge awarded counsel fees
to the bank's lawyers, concluding not only that the clear
unambiguous language of a contract involving the bank barred
Triffin's claim but also that the case law on point was a 1999
appellate ruling titled Triffin v. First Union Bank, N.A.,
319 N.J. Super. 72. The per curiam opinion called this "a fact which
plaintiff was obviously aware of when he commenced this frivolous
suit." The adjudication of fraud
by the Essex County jury in the ADP case was not Triffin's first. In
the late 1980s, a Pennsylvania court concluded he defrauded a bank
out of almost $100,000 in a check-kiting scheme in 1985. That
ruling, along with other rebukes for ethical breaches and a lack of
respect for the judicial process, led to Triffin, a law school
graduate, being denied admission to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1990. He
was also denied entry to the New Jersey Bar by the state Supreme
Court in 1993 after the character committee found him unfit.
Never
Mind a Slice - Ferry Lawyers Want Slabs of Pie By John Marzulli Attorneys who defeated the
city's attempt to limit its liability in 2003's deadly ferry crash
now want a piece of every victim's settlement. The city so far has settled 120 lawsuits for a total of about $28 million in the Staten Island wreck of the Andrew J. Barberi, which killed 11 and injured scores of others. Another 64 cases are pending, so the payout to the lawyers could be in the millions. The Staten Island firm of Anthony Bisignano and maritime law experts Dougherty, Ryan, Giuffra, Zambito & Hession filed a motion in Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday seeking "a percentage of all sums recovered" - past and future. They want Judge Edward Korman to decide what the percentage should be. None of the two firms' own cases have been settled yet. "The lawyers who filed this motion should be ashamed of themselves for attempting to obtain a windfall," said attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who represents five victims. "Instead of focusing all the energies of the lawyers on behalf of the clients they represent, there will now be a fee dispute." Another lawyer involved in the litigation said the demand is a "black eye" on the legal profession. The city had tried to use an 1851 maritime law to cap total damages at $14.4 million, the value of the ferry's hull. The city is appealing Korman's decision not to put a cap on damages. The firm Weisman & Calderon doesn't intend to fork over a penny of the $9 million settlement it negotiated for Tina Evans, who lost both legs in the accident. "Your reluctance to share your good fortune is disappointing," Bisignano responded, according to court papers. NY Lawyer Admits Ripping Off Elderly Client New York Lawyer A White Plains attorney pleaded guilty to stealing $470,143, the proceeds of a 2006 Peekskill house sale, from an elderly client, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced yesterday. Chase Caro, 49, practiced in White Plains and New York City, the New York Law Journal reports. He ignored numerous requests to transfer the money owed after the payment of litigation related fees, instead using the money for personal and business expenses, the DA's office said. He eventually sent the client a check for $310,000, but it bounced, according to the district attorney. Mr. Caro was arrested in January and has been free on bail; he was suspended from the practice of law in March. He faces 2 to 6 years in prison on his plea to one count of second-degree grand larceny. Restitution in the amount of $780,000 to the original victim and an additional victim identified during the investigation will be considered at Mr. Caro's Oct. 29 sentencing. Local Lawyer Dented by New Charges of Staging Auto Accidents By Henry Gottlieb New fraud charges were filed on Tuesday against a West Orange, N.J., personal injury lawyer and his firm, both under indictment for almost two years on charges that they used runners and were involved in a phony accident scheme. An Essex County grand jury indicted Irwin Seligsohn and Goldberger, Seligsohn & Shinrod (now known as Goldberger & Seligsohn) on charges they conspired between 1998 and 2003 to submit insurance claims for a fake auto accident, the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice announced.The indictment, handed up June 15, says nonlawyer conspirators reported a hit-and-run accident to Newark police on July 17, 1998, and met with Seligsohn later to pursue fraudulent claims with Allstate Insurance Co. As a result of what the announcement called the "purported" accident, $18,000 in bodily insurance claims were submitted to Allstate and $14,500 in personal injury protection payments were made. The grand jury returned three more indictments accusing nonlawyers of staging other phony accidents in Newark or East Orange. It is the third indictment against Seligsohn, 71, of Kinnelon, N.J., in connection with the same types of activity. In April 2005, he and partner Allen Goldberger, now 74 of Livingston, N.J., became the first lawyers to be charged with violating a New Jersey law that criminalized the use of runners. In November 2005, they were indicted on charges of paying runners to solicit people to participate in staged automobile accidents to collect insurance money. The November 2005 indictment included a racketeering charge and sought the forfeiture of $5 million in financial assets obtained by the Seligsohn firm. The latest indictment, which does not include Goldberger, adds specificity to the allegations against Seligsohn by providing alleged details of the 1998 accident in Newark. The announcement quotes Greta-Ann Gooden-Brown, the state's insurance fraud prosecutor, as saying, "The use of runners has a domino effect on the insurance industry." "Runners, in turn, stage accidents and urge people who are not injured to be treated for injuries," she says. "They submit false police auto accident reports and engage in fraudulent conduct which drives up the cost of auto insurance in this state." Seligsohn's lawyer, Dennis Cipriano of West Orange, N.J., says that after extensive discovery, the case was scheduled for trial in September but will be most likely be delayed because of the additional indictment. "There's got to be an end to these charges," he says. "Irwin has from the beginning denied any fraudulent or improper conduct and he has defended the charges against him and intends to continue defending the charges against him," Cipriano says. Local
Lawyer's Sex With Client, Brings By Douglas S. Malan A Sunday afternoon tryst with a married client has sullied an Avon lawyer’s otherwise clean disciplinary record for the first time in his 25-year legal career. The Statewide Grievance Committee recently approved a conditional agreement struck between attorney Gary Joseph Greene and the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel under which Greene was reprimanded. Since the sexual encounter occurred in January 2006, a new attorney-ethics rule that took effect at the beginning of this year prohibiting lawyers from having sexual relations with their clients did not apply to Greene. Rather the 49-year-old attorney acknowledged, in his affidavit and conditional admission, that he violated Rule 1.7(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. That rule bars attorneys from representing a client if that representation "may be materially limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client or to a third person, or by the lawyer’s own interests." The new rule, 1.8, prohibits lawyer-client sexual relations altogether on the basis, according to commentary accompanying the rule, that they "can involve unfair exploitation of the lawyer’s fiduciary role, in violation of the lawyer’s basic ethical obligation not to use the trust of the client to the client’s disadvantage." In this case, Greene was grieved by his client’s husband, Paul Papagna of Simsbury. In his June 2006 complaint to the SGC, Papagna said he felt "Greene used his power and trust that my wife [Lisa M. Papagna] had with him that [then] resulted in the affair they had in his office … ." In his July 2006 written response to the grievance committee, Greene denied that he abused his power or trust to take advantage of Lisa Papagna, or that he facilitated "an inappropriate relationship with her." His attorney, Mark H. Dean of Hartford, told an SGC reviewing panel "[t]his is a case that involved a one-time incident, and it’s by an attorney who has no prior disciplinary record." The "incident" cost Greene his marriage, Dean told the panel. At the hearing, Greene promised that a sexual relationship with one of his clients "will not happen again." He said he was "deeply sorry that my actions have brought me here. … I had prided myself on being someone who understood where the line was, and I never crossed it or came close to it. And in this particular case, I did," Greene conceded. Not The First Time? Paul Papagna stated in a July 2006 letter to grievance officials that he understood from Greene’s wife, Lisa, that such relationships were actually common for Greene. Papagna said he spoke to Lisa Greene after he became suspicious about late-night telephone calls from attorney Greene’s cell phone, which appeared on Papagna’s caller ID. "When I first talked to Lisa Greene and told her what was going on [between their spouses], her first response was that bastar[d] is doing it again and that he did the same thing with another of his clients two years into their marriage," Papagna claimed in his letter. "She then told me that that was how they [met]. Attorney Greene was married and that she was also a client. And they were also having an affair." Neither Dean nor Attorney Greene returned telephone messages by press time. In his affidavit and conditional admission, Greene acknowledged there is a "substantial likelihood that a trier of fact" would find he violated Rule 1.7(b). Lisa Papagna retained Greene in July 2005 for a bankruptcy matter. During that representation, Greene began asking her about her considerable amount of medical debt, Lisa Papagna stated in her August 2006 letter to grievance officials. "I told him of the situation leading up to the debt, which was the therapy that … I had due to past [sexual] abuse," Lisa Papagna wrote. "At that point in our conversation Attorney Greene stated that I could trust him, that he was not only my attorney but ‘my counselor.’" After further discussion of similarly personal issues, Lisa Papagna said she hired him in December 2005 for a child support matter from a previous relationship. "At some point after that Attorney Greene phoned me at my house … [w]hich I initially believed to be for professional reasons regarding the support case," Lisa Papagna wrote to grievance officials. "Attorney Greene told me he was happy to have a reason to phone me, [and] went on to say that he had to tell me something else. I asked him what that was, at which point he stated that while in his office he had an overwhelming desire to kiss me. I was shocked. This made me feel extremely uncomfortable and I was unsure of how to respond," she wrote. At some point, however, during December 2005, Lisa Papagna apparently began to feel more at ease with Greene. The attorney told SGC officials that, during that time, his client asked his secretary if he liked peanut brittle and also told the secretary that she would "pop in [the office] with a little something for him." During their telephone conversations, "she would flirt with me and I reciprocated," Greene stated and Lisa Papagna confirmed. Office Confrontation After the sexual encounter in late January 2006, Greene represented Lisa Papagna in court on Feb. 7, 2006, regarding the child support matter. Later that day, "Attorney Greene called my wife to tell her that he sent his secretary home because his office lost power, and he wanted her to come see him …, Paul Papagna maintained in his letter to grievance officials. Greene referenced a Feb. 7, 2006, incident in which Paul Papagna "showed up, barged into another office here in our building and then came into my office and proceeded to cause a scene" that caused Greene to call the Avon police. Paul Papagna wrote that Greene "lied" to police and "told them that my wife was in the middle of a divorce and that I barged into his building and caused a scene because I was a jealous ex-husband." Chief Disciplinary Counsel Mark A. Dubois noted in his prehearing memo that Lisa Papagna "generally supports her husband’s account" of the events and that the couple has "reconciled." A telephone call to Paul Papagna’s house was not returned. Greene’s reprimand matches the discipline handed to Rockville attorney John F. O’Brien in 2005 for a sexual relationship he had with a client. Torrington attorney Ira S. Mayo was suspended for 15 months in 2005 for making unwanted sexual advances toward clients who were referred to him by the Susan B. Anthony Project for abused women. NY Attorney Admits Robbing $550,000 From Aunt By Daniel Wise A White Plains lawyer pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing $550,000 from her aunt. Under a plea agreement, Shelly Ann Rivera, 40, will be sentenced to 1-to-3 years in prison on July 11. Most of the money was stolen from the proceeds of two home sales Ms. Rivera handled for her aunt. Ms. Rivera also promised to pay her relative $700,000 in restitution, though her sentence is not conditioned upon her making any restitution. The Westchester District Attorney's Office insisted that Ms. Rivera agree to compensate her aunt, Annette Rivera, for losses related to her handling of her aunt's affairs beyond those stemming from the theft, a spokesman said. For instance, the restitution amount covers a $100,000 down payment the aunt lost when her niece failed to produce enough proceeds from the earlier sales to close on a new home the aunt was buying in Riverdale. Judge Rejects Ex Lawyer Robles' Plea Deal By Jay Weaver A frustrated federal judge on Monday rejected a plea deal that would have sent once prominent Miami lawyer Louis Robles to prison for 10 years on charges of stealing more than $13 million from aging clients exposed to asbestos. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold said he thought Robles, 59, deserved more time behind bars after Gold complained about the ``lack of meaningful sentencing options.'' The plea agreement, recommended by the U.S. attorney's office and Robles' federal public defender, required him to plead guilty to two counts of mail fraud -- but each count carried a maximum of five years each. Gold expressed his dissatisfaction with those limits, especially because there are about 4,400 alleged victims of Robles but only $1.3 million available for restitution. ''A number of these people are not going to receive restitution,'' Gold said. Robles -- once dubbed the King of Torts who was later disbarred -- spent almost $2 million a year on mortgages and other expenses for a Key Biscayne waterfront mansion, a ski property in Telluride, Colo., and apartments in New York City and Los Angeles. The judge gave Robles a choice Monday -- plead guilty to the 41-count indictment and face up to 20 years in prison, or withdraw the original plea and face trial. Robles, represented by assistant public defender Hector Flores, opted for trial. Gold set the date for Sept. 4. Meanwhile, Robles, who once wore stylish business suits and flew all over the country for his work, was headed back to the Federal Detention Center in his khaki-colored prison jumpsuit. FLIGHT RISK Last week, the judge revoked his $1 million bond because Robles' girlfriend reported to authorities that the defendant had ''discussed with her on two occasions his obtaining a false passport for the purpose of fleeing'' South Florida, court records say. Gold ruled Robles' recent behavior ''evidenced an increased likelihood of flight,'' the documents said. Both federal prosecutors and a private attorney assigned by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court to take charge of thousands of Robles' cases urged the judge to accept the plea deal. They said there would be no more money to recover from Robles -- other than the $1.3 million frozen by federal authorities after his indictment last year. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Davis said ``nobody has turned up any other assets.'' He said Robles' alleged victims, whose claims ranged from a few hundred dollars to $185,000, were agreeable to receiving a fraction of the money because they have waited so long for it -- more than a decade in some instances. PUBLIC INTEREST Davis said the recommended 10-year prison term was ``in the public interest.'' ''That is a significant term of imprisonment in a white-collar fraud case, especially for a defendant who is 59 years old,'' he said. The U.S. attorney's office issued a statement backing the deal. ''We believe that the terms of the proposed plea agreement were fair and just,'' said Alicia Valle, special counsel to U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. ``The plea agreement served two goals: it provided quick restitution to elderly and dying victims, and ensured just punishment -- 10 years in prison -- for the defendant's crimes. 'We do not know and cannot comment on whether Robles' reported attempt to flee the jurisdiction played a role in the court's decision,'' she said. ``We are prepared to proceed to trial as directed by the judge, and will present the evidence to a jury.'' Tom Tew, the appointed attorney who reorganized Robles' asbestos cases, said he was disappointed in the judge's ruling. ''My biggest concern was getting money to these folks,'' Tew said. ``I don't think they were as concerned about how much time he got as long as justice was served that he was going to prison.'' Famous
and Disbarred Lawyer's Girlfriend By Julie Kay On May 10, U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami issued an arrest warrant and ordered Robles' $1 million bond revoked, calling him a flight risk. Robles, a nationally known Miami mass torts lawyer, was placed in federal prison May 11, days before Gold was set to decide whether to accept a plea deal for a 10-year sentence that was worked out between Robles and prosecutors. Gold found that Robles may have moved some of his clients' unaccounted-for funds to foreign countries while traveling abroad prior to his indictment. In his order, Gold stated he was concerned about the fact that Robles only has $1 million left out of the $13 million prosecutors say Robles misappropriated from clients, and that he traveled to foreign countries just before he was indicted. Robles' girlfriend, named in court records only as "Ms. Wiki," reported to his probation officer that over the last two months, Robles asked her if she could get him and his grandson phony passports. He also had been talking to a pilot who previously offered to help him flee, according to the probation officer's petition. On May 14, however, Robles' attorney, assistant federal public defender Hector Flores, filed a motion seeking a review of the bond revocation, claiming the allegations in the probation officer's petition are "overstated and lack factual support." He said, "Counsel believes the Government's own investigation of these matters supports this conclusion." According to Gold's order, the office of U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta had suggested electronic monitoring and home detention for Robles. But Gold wrote that "no adequate assurance was given prior to (or during) the hearing that the Defendant even has a place to reside in the event he was reinstated on bond." These developments came days before a scheduled hearing today at which Gold is set to decide whether to accept a plea deal for Robles. It calls for Robles to serve 10 years in prison and pay $13 million in restitution to victims. But prosecutors say they've only found $1 million left in Robles' bank accounts and don't know what happened to the other funds or to the $13 million he received when he sold his Key Biscayne mansion last year. The latest allegations against Robles could affect Gold's willingness to accept the plea deal and put Robles in a position to stand trial, according to defense lawyers not involved in the case. Two of the 41 counts Robles faces carry 20-year maximum penalties, and the remaining counts carry five-year maximum penalties. "The maximum potential sentence, therefore, provides an incentive for flight," Gold stated in his order. Neither prosecutors nor Flores returned calls for comment. "This could destroy the plea agreement," said Miami criminal defense attorney Richard Sharpstein, who's not involved in the case. "This is absolute proof that Louis is out of his mind. If he's trying to reunite himself with lost money, that can be huge." ABUSE AND ALCOHOL Robles, 59, was indicted in May 2006 on 41 counts of mail fraud and misappropriating $13.5 million in settlements from asbestos clients. According to the indictment, Robles used client trust money to finance movie productions and waste management companies and to make mortgage payments on a $13 million Key Biscayne mansion and a Colorado condominium, and to finance an extravagant lifestyle that included two full-time servants. At a hearing scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, prosecutors are set to report on whether Robles' 4,390 victims approve of the plea deal worked out between prosecutors and Robles. Late Thursday, Gold issued an order denying Robles' motion for bond following a hearing May 17. Gold held the hearing after Robles' probation officer, Urania Salamanca, filed a petition May 9 requesting bond revocation based on Robles' girlfriend's statements that he was planning to flee. The petition also stated that Robles' girlfriend has said Robles is physically and psychologically abusing her and that she is "in fear for her life." He is also starting to abuse alcohol, the petition stated. "The defendant's girlfriend has concerns that if the defendant were to flee, she cannot pay the $100,000 lien put on her property to secure the bond," the petition said. Robles' girlfriend and the pilot Robles allegedly talked to, Dwight Hewlett, testified at Thursday's hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge issued an order denying Robles' motion for bond. In his order, Gold stated he was revoking the bond because of the substantial sentences Robles faces, the defendant's initial reluctance to accept the plea agreement, the fact that Robles has engaged in foreign travel recently, his lack of family ties in Miami since his relationship with his girlfriend is troubled, and that only $1 million of the $13 million he apparently obtained from clients is left. "The inference, therefore, is strong that the Defendant may have secreted some of the unaccounted for monies in foreign countries during his foreign travel prior to the filing of the indictment in this matter," Gold said. ROBLES PANICKED? In 2002, the Daily Business Review first reported on a four-year Florida Bar investigation into Robles and the abrupt closure of his downtown Miami office in 2002. The Bar had received numerous complaints from some of Robles' estimated 7,000 asbestos clients around the country. Clients had complained that Robles overcharged them for costs, didn't return phone calls and sent them few, if any, settlement payments. The Florida Supreme Court later disbarred him. After being indicted last year, Robles initially pleaded not guilty. Then, earlier this year, he struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors that called for him to serve 10 years in prison and pay full restitution to victims. Not so fast, said Gold, who told prosecutors last month that he wanted them to send letters to all victims to determine whether they approve of the plea deal terms. Some victims told the Review they thought the deal was too lenient. Bruce Lehr, a Miami criminal defense attorney and former county prosecutor who is not involved in the case, said it's not clear if the latest developments would harm Robles' chances of getting the plea deal accepted by Gold. "A judge can look at it either way," Lehr said. "Either as unrelated panic, which doesn't change the appropriateness of the plea deal, or as disrespect and additional criminal behavior." In his 24 years of practice, Lehr said only one of his clients has fled, the day after he bonded out of jail. But Sharpstein said Gold, who is known for being a relatively strict judge, likely would be tougher on Robles as a result. The few clients of his who fled the country while out on bond "inevitably" got caught, Sharpstein said. "The world is a very small place," he said. "It's an idiotic act." 'Teddy' Rap By Kieran Crowley Robert Shuster, 66, allegedly looted the estate of John Allen Gable, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. Shuster, hired to administer the estate of Gable, who died in February 2005, made numerous transfers from an estate escrow account into his personal account over several months, Nassau cops said - until Gable's brother, Patrick, "found out there was only $5 left." Husband and Wife NY Lawyers Confess Insider Trading By Mark Hamblett Crooked NY GC Must Pay $52 Million, Headed to Prison By Beth Bar Mr. Sorin, a Harvard-educated attorney who pleaded guilty in Eastern District court in November to one criminal count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud, was also ordered yesterday by Eastern District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis to pay nearly $52 million in restitution. In addition to Mr. Sorin, who faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison, David Kreinberg, the company's former CFO, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Messrs. Sorin and Kreinberg were charged in August but were never indicted. Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, the company's ex-CEO, a fugitive who was discovered in Namibia in September, has been indicted on 35 charges. In an Oct. 11 superseding indictment, Mr. Alexander was accused of using fictitious names to generate hundreds of thousands of backdated options. Lawyer's
"Life's Short. Get a Divorce" By The Associated Press A racy billboard proclaiming, "Life's short. Get a divorce," caused such an uproar that city workers stripped it from its downtown Chicago perch after a week. It wasn't so much about the partially clothed man and woman on the law firm's ad. It was the phrase that lawyers Corri Fetman and Kelly Garland chose that drew scores of complaints from neighbors and from other attorneys who said it reflected poorly on their profession. A city alderman who lives nearby found a technical reason to jettison the sign. "I called the building inspector and told him to do his job, and he did," said Alderman Burton Natarus. "It has nothing to do with content or anything else. They did not have a permit, and they were ordered to take it down." Fetman and Garland say they're upset the sign was removed. "They ripped our billboard down without due process," Fetman said. "We own that art. I feel violated." Despite its brief run, the sign apparently was good for business. Since it went up last week, the two attorneys said calls to their law firm have gone up dramatically. Lawyer's Alleged "Bedside Manner" Triggers Ethics Probe By Charles Toutant When Miguel Herrera was badly hurt in a 2002 car crash, he didn't have to look far for legal representation. Cherry Hill, N.J., lawyer Jeffrey Hark appeared one day in his hospital room. Herrera says that in pain and under heavy medication, he signed a contingency fee agreement. It wasn't until much later, Herrera says, that he learned of Hark's conflict of interest: The other driver in the crash was Vernon Roth, Hark's wife's grandfather. Herrera says Hark told him he could not recover more than Roth's $100,000 automobile insurance policy, even though Hark knew Roth had substantial assets. And, Herrera says, Hark arranged a lawyer for him in a municipal court case arising from the crash while arranging for another lawyer to represent Roth. Both were tenants of Hark's law building. While those facts make out a prima facie case of deviation from acceptable professional standards, a Camden County, N.J., judge properly dismissed Herrera's legal malpractice case on summary judgment, an appeals court ruled on Tuesday. Herrera can't recover damages for malpractice because the lawyer who replaced Hark in the negligence case settled it for an acceptable amount. "Herrera has not shown how he would have obtained a better result than the $95,000 settlement, even if Hark had disclosed his conflict of interest. In short, no showing of damages has been made," wrote Judges Ariel Rodriguez and Thomas Lyons in Herrera v. Hark, A-1862-05. Nevertheless, the panel referred the case to the Office of Attorney Ethics for an investigation of Hark's conduct. The panel cited Rule of Professional Conduct 7.3(b)(1), which forbids initiation of contact with prospective clients whose physical, emotional or mental state is such that the person could not exercise reasonable judgment, and In re Pajerowski, 156 N.J. 5 (1998), which found RPC 7.3(b)(1) violated where a runner was sent to a victim's hospital room shortly after an accident. Hark, contacted after Tuesday's ruling, disputed many of the facts Herrera alleged. He did not visit the hospital room unannounced but was contacted by a friend of Herrera about representation, and Herrera signed the fee agreement in Hark's office, not the hospital, Hark says. He also says he had no involvement in retaining lawyers to represent Herrera or Roth in municipal court. Hark says Herrera sued him for malpractice to get leverage in a fee arbitration between Herrera and the law firm that settled the case, Perskie, Wallach, Fendt & Holtz of Atlantic City, N.J. Herrera also sued the Perskie firm, which was dismissed as a defendant. Hark says Herrera reported him to the OAE and that an investigation has been pending for three years. Herrera's lawyer, Sebastian Ionno II of Clifford Van Syoc's office in Cherry Hill, did not return a call. Lawyer Indicted in Porn Probe Says Feds Overreached By The Associated Press Philip Russell was charged Feb. 16 with destroying a computer that contained child pornography at Christ Church in Greenwich. Former President George H.W. Bush attended the church while growing up. Russell, the former attorney for the church, is accused of obstructing an FBI investigation that led to the January conviction of the church's music director, Robert Tate, for possessing child pornography. He was charged under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which Congress passed in 2002 after a wave of corporate accounting scandals to make it easier to prosecute such cases. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. Russell filed court papers Thursday urging a judge to dismiss a count that involves the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, saying the law was meant to prevent corporate document shredding. The law made it easier to prosecute obstruction of justice by requiring only that an investigation was foreseeable, rather than pending. Russell acknowledges he destroyed the computer but says he had no reason to believe the matter was under investigation or that it would lead to an investigation. "A parent who finds pictures of 'naked boys' in his/her child's backpack would also face a 20-year federal felony for obstruction ... if he/she throws the pictures out to insulate the child from future legal difficulties," wrote Russell's attorney, Robert Casale. Prosecutors declined to comment on the latest court papers but have defended Russell's indictment. Lawyer's Hoax Spurs Debate on Legal Tactics, Ethics By The Associated Press MADISON, Wis. -- When a prominent lawyer was defending a businessman on charges of sexually assaulting a boy and possessing child pornography, he used a ruse to obtain the boy's computer to aid his case. Now, state regulators want the state Supreme Court to scold the lawyer for the hoax. Stephen Hurley hired a private investigator to trick the boy into swapping his computer for a new laptop. The case illustrates what the American Bar Association says has been a major debate in legal circles in recent years: Can lawyers ethically participate in covert activities? The court will decide whether to discipline Hurley. The private reprimand sought by regulators is the lightest punishment possible. The Oregon Supreme Court set off a similar debate in 2000 when it reprimanded a lawyer who posed as a doctor in phone calls to an insurance company he was planning to sue. Hurley's lawyer, Claude Covelli, said his client did nothing wrong in supervising an undercover investigation to collect evidence, similar to sting operations conducted by law enforcement officers investigating civil rights complaints. But a complaint filed by a state disciplinary board says Hurley broke rules that prohibit lawyers from engaging in "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" by approving the hoax. "There are limits to zealous advocacy," said William Weigel, lawyer for the Office of Lawyer Regulation, who brought the complaint last month. Supporters say Hurley, who has represented everyone from former University of Wisconsin football player Ron Dayne to former Gov. Scott McCallum, is being unfairly targeted. "I certainly wouldn't be proud of taking advantage of a teenager," said Jack King, spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "But I don't feel the guy did anything unethical as far as the professional responsibilities rules go." At issue is Hurley's defense of Gordon Sussman, who owned a business in Madison selling canoes and kayaks and became the boy's school mentor. Sussman, 54, has insisted his accuser is lying. Hurley wanted the boy's computer to aid the defense. He acknowledges hiring private investigator Sheridan Glen to obtain it through deception. Glen sent the boy a letter from a fake Illinois company called Thermetric, Inc., claiming to be researching students' computer use. "You have been selected to receive a brand new Hewlett Packard laptop computer, free of charge" in exchange for turning over a computer, the letter said. "The new computer is your reward for participation." The letter was signed "Glen Sheridan." Glen later traveled to the boy's home in Indiana, where he had moved, to make the swap. His mother soon feared they were tricked and alerted authorities. A defense analyst discovered hundreds of pornographic images on the computer, including 28 images involving children. Hurley claimed the images showed the boy accessed child pornography and learned about sex on his own and not through Sussman. The evidence was never introduced at trial. A judge ruled that pornography viewed by the boy in 2004 was not relevant to assaults that happened at least two years earlier. A jury found Sussman guilty of assault and possessing child pornography. He is in prison, though he maintains his innocence and is appealing. Hurley, who did not return phone or e-mail messages, argued in court documents in 2005 that the hoax was the only way he could obtain the computer and perhaps evidence to exonerate his client. "Given that the defense does not have the police at its disposal, this was the only means to obtain this exculpatory evidence," his law firm wrote in a motion. "The defense was correct in its instinct as the computer did contain relevant pornography." Weigel's complaint says Hurley could have asked authorities to investigate the computer or sought a subpoena requiring the boy to produce it. Other defense lawyers called those steps impractical and the use of deception justified, saying it was no different than a prosecutor who oversees undercover police operations. "It's exactly the same thing or should be," Madison attorney Stephen Morgan said. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, who complained to regulators about Hurley's actions, dismissed such comparisons. "There is no comparison between those lawful investigative activities and a private attorney's use of a sophisticated trick, without any court involvement whatsoever, to dupe a child witness in a criminal case out of his private computer files," he said. Weigel acknowledged that Wisconsin rules are murky and the court could use the case to spell them out. Lawyer Guilty of Medicare Fraud By John Dorschner South Florida attorney Benjamin R. Metsch pleaded guilty today on charges he defrauded Medicare from October 2002 through August 2004, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Metsch conspired with another individual, unnamed in the indictment, to facilitate the fraudulent sales of 67 South Florida durable medical equipment companies. According to the charges, the sales involved ''straw purchasers'' who acted in the place of the true purchasers of the DME companies. This kind of convoluted transaction tends to impede Medicare investigators and prosecutors from quickly tracking down persons committing fraud. In the plea agreement, Metsch agreed to pay $103,000 restitution to Medicare because his law firm earned $103,000 in the fraudulent transactions. Metsch faces a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, according to prosecutors. His sentencing is scheduled for May 18. The case is being prosecuted by David Frank. Attorney Busted in 500g Theft Associated Press A lawyer was arrested yesterday on charges of stealing at least $500,000 from clients involved in real-estate deals. Gwenerva Cherry stole from a company in bankruptcy, two people who were trying to buy homes, and two clients looking to invest in Brooklyn apartments, prosecutors said. Cherry, 50, was stealing because she was constantly in debt, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. "She was robbing Peter to pay Paul, using the money to pay back money she had already embezzled," he said. The bankrupt company, Rapsil Construction Corp., hired Cherry in fall 2005 to help sell off several Harlem properties. Cherry contracted with several buyers who gave her $300,000 in down payments, and stole the cash, Morgenthau said. People ripped off in that scam included a woman who gave her $95,000 and a man who gave her $80,000 as down payments on townhouses, Morgenthau said. She used those funds to pay office expenses and pay off debts to clients, he said. Suspended
Metro Solo Can Practice Again New York Lawyer Ira S. Mayo, the Torrington, Conn., solo whose law license was suspended for 15 months in September 2005 for making unwanted sexual advances toward female clients, was reinstated to practice last month, as long as he abides by certain conditions. Among them, he must never be alone or in confined quarters in his law office with women at any time, according to a court order. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Robert L. Holzberg also demanded that Mayo "direct his practice away from the representation of women in domestic relations matters." The clients who grieved Mayo were referred to him by the Susan B. Anthony Project for abused women. Complainants accused Mayo of coercing them into performing sexual favors to reduce the legal fees they owed. Mayo "seemed more interested in fulfilling his sexual urges than my [marriage] dissolution case," one of the women asserted in her complaint to the Statewide Grievance Committee. Mayo initially "denied any sexual contact or other improper behavior," but later admitted to certain facts lodged in the complaints. Waterbury attorney Sean G. FitzMaurice has been designated as Mayo's practice mentor.
Husband-and-Wife Lawyers Face Trial By Mary Alice Robbins A Bexar County grand jury first indicted the two lawyers on the theft charges in 2005, identifying the four men who are the complainants only by their initials. A second Bexar County grand jury reindicted the couple in 2006, this time naming the four men: Steve Riebel, Geoffrey Ferguson, Paul Fitzgerald and Reagan Sakai. The second indictments allege that Mary and Ted Roberts unlawfully appropriated the four men's money by deception and by coercion. According to the indictments, the alleged offenses -- violations of Texas Penal Code §§31.01 and 31.03 -- occurred between Oct. 1, 2001, and April 2, 2002. Cliff Herberg, Bexar County's first assistant district attorney, says the allegation is that the wife had sexual liaisons with the men and her husband subsequently approached them to demand payments or he would expose them to hatred, contempt and ridicule. Riebel, Ferguson and Sakai did not return telephone calls seeking comment before press time. "It's a very personal matter," Fitzgerald says, declining further comment. At least one of the men met Mary Roberts online. "My client had some information posted on a Web site, and he was contacted by Mary Roberts," says Van G. Hilley, who represents Riebel. Hilley, a partner in San Antonio's Goldstein, Goldstein & Hilley, says Riebel had a relationship with Mary Roberts and thought he had settled the matter with her husband. "He was very sorry that it happened," Hilley says. Herberg says Ted Roberts collected about $144,000 total from the four men. If the jury finds Mary and Ted Roberts guilty of theft, each could be convicted of a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Ted Roberts, principal in Ted H. Roberts in San Antonio, is certified in personal injury law and civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, according to the State Bar's Web site. As noted on that Web site, Mary Roberts' primary areas of practice include ethics and legal malpractice, law office management, real estate and wills, and trusts and probate. She is an attorney in her husband's firm. San Antonio solo Michael McCrum, who represents the couple, contends Ted Roberts presented the men with whom his wife had the affairs with demand letters and copies of petitions that Ted Roberts proposed to file under Rule 202 of the Texas Civil Rules of Procedure in contemplation of filing a suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress. "He found out about the affairs, and he was incensed," McCrum says of Ted Roberts. McCrum says that instead of beating the men up, like some husbands would do, Ted Roberts chose to present them with the demand letters and petitions. He says Roberts told the men that he could file a tort claim against each of them for having the affairs with his wife. "They settled; their wives didn't know this had happened," McCrum says. McCrum contends the state is trying to prosecute his clients for something that civil lawyers do all the time -- send demand letters and present petitions they plan to file under Rule 202. "By stretching statutory words to an unprecedented interpretation, the state seeks to criminalize as "theft the presentment and subsequent settlement of potential claims authorized under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure," Mary and Ted Roberts alleged in one of several motions to quash their indictments that Harle dismissed in October 2006. McCrum says the outcome of his clients' case could impact every civil lawyer in Texas who writes a demand letter. "Their demand letters can come under attack by a DA," he contends. "We dispute that version of the facts," Herberg says. "If we thought this was something that all lawyers do, they wouldn't have been charged." TWO THINGS Rod Phelan, a commercial trial lawyer and partner in Baker Botts in Dallas, says lawyers are supposed to use Rule 202 for two things: to investigate whether they have a claim or to preserve testimony of a witness who would not be available to testify because the witness either is dying or is leaving the jurisdiction. Ted Roberts' use of Rule 202 "sounds like an odd use of the rule," Phelan says. But he adds, "That doesn't have anything to do with whether it's criminally actionable." Phelan says there is "a kernel of truth" in the point that McCrum is making. "The line between extortion or blackmail and making a demand to settle a colorable claim is gray," he says. "What seems to a defendant as extortion or blackmail may seem to the plaintiff as a bona fide claim." Bill Dorsaneo, a Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law professor who teaches and writes on Texas civil procedure, says demand letters that lawyers write have been regarded as privileged. Dorsaneo says he's surprised that the criminal law would allow the criminal prosecution of a lawyer for doing something that would be privileged in the civil context. "I'm not sure it's a good idea," he says. The couple argued in their motions to quash that the theft statute is unconstitutionally vague and/or overly broad and that the indictment failed to state an offense. McCrum says Harle dismissed the motions without prejudice, and he says he will re-urge the motions at the end of the state's case. Herberg says the theft statute has been around for a long time. "We don't think it's vague," he says. Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, who has followed the case, says he thinks the theft provisions in the Penal Code are the "best fit" for prosecuting Mary and Ted Roberts. "You obviously have to get a jury to believe the lawyer [Ted Roberts] was manipulating the legal system to get that money," Bradley says. Bradley says he doesn't think it's a good argument to contend that Ted Roberts merely did what civil lawyers do all the time when Roberts presented his demand letter and petition to each of the men who had a relationship with his wife. "The unique thing going on here is he [Ted Roberts] was litigating for himself," Bradley says. For prior
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