Ex-Lawyer Charged With Embezzling $1 Mil From Clients, Firm

When former attorney Jeffrey Abramowitz was indicted on charges of embezzling more than $1 million from his own clients, the news almost seemed to provide a sense of relief to his former law partner, Mitchell H. Klevan, who told The Legal that he has spent the past 20 months working to undo the damage of Abramowitz's alleged crimes.

Abramowitz, 47, is accused in the indictment of stealing money from clients by lying to them about the settlements of their cases. He allegedly spent some of the funds himself and diverted the rest to a "favored client" and her family.

According to Klevan, the alleged improprieties in Abramowitz's cases were exposed in late 2008 when some of the clients filed lawsuits against the two-lawyer firm and others filed complaints against Abramowitz with the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Klevan said that he changed the locks on the office doors at Klevan & Abramowitz in December 2008 when he first learned of his former partner's alleged thefts.

As he pored over the files, Klevan said that he was "shocked and dismayed" to find irregularities in numerous cases. Klevan said he quickly decided to turn the matter over to the U.S. Attorney's Office, and that he has been cooperating with both the federal and the disciplinary investigations ever since.

"I'm very sorry that Mr. Abramowitz has brought this on himself, but I hope that justice will now be served for all the victims he has harmed," Klevan said.

Full Article and Source:
Ex-Attorney Charged With Embezzling $1 Mil From Clients, Firm