Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Florida Attorneys Embarrassed and Disgusted Over Peer's Actions

 The case against a local attorney accused of grand theft and exploitation is alarming members of the local legal community.

"It's never a good thing when you're moving money from one place to another," say Sarah Sullivan, Associate Professor of Professional Skills at the Florida Coastal School of Law.

Sullivan says local attorneys are embarrassed and disgusted that their peer, Cynthia Nichols, is accused of scamming her elderly client, Mary Vest, out of $100,000.

Action News went to Sullivan to find out how this could happen. She says guardians are court appointed, and must follow strict rules.

"Every year, [guardians] have to go back to the court and do a fairly detailed record of accounting that talks about everything that's come in, and everything that's gone out of their clients accounts."

But in this case, Sullivan says something looks wrong.

"It sounds like there's a bunch of money moving around that did not have the courts attention."

According to Nichols arrest report, she regularly transferred small amounts of money out of Vest's account and into another clients account. From there, police say, Nichols withdrew the cash.

Sullivan practices in the same court as Nichols, and believes the checks and balances are there. She's not sure how those small transactions went unnoticed.

"If anyone is going to have an evil intention they're going to find a way around it."

Full Article and Source:
Attorneys Embarrassed and Disgusted Over Peer's Actions

5 comments:

Thelma said...

Do the courts know how many other guardian accounts she robbed?

Sue said...

Good point Thelma. I hope the authorities review all of her cases. Moving small amounts of money in each case over time adds up to quite a bonus.

And in the intitial inventory, it's so easy to withhold discovered bank accounts, valuables from the residence and safe deposit boxes etc.

Sarah Sullivan, Associate Professor of Professional Skills at the Florida Coastal School of Law: "If anyone is going to have an evil intention they're going to find a way around it."

I noticed the local guardians and attorney's did not have statments for this article. Hmmmmmm I wonder how many of them are guilty of the same or worse behavior?

Professors aren't in arena with all due respect the scholarly minds go by the book well the reality is the court has their own procedures, some no procedure.

HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO WORK:

"Every year, [guardians] have to go back to the court and do a fairly detailed record of accounting that talks about everything that's come in, and everything that's gone out of their clients accounts."

StandUp said...

Sullivan might be out of touch. Yes, there are rules but the problem is they aren't always followed -- and nobody sees that they are.

Anthony said...

Ms. Sullivan doesn't sound like she comes from Fl, StandUp. Everybody knows about Florida.

Anonymous said...

whats new.she stole 6000 dollars from me and did not think twice.she is a good con artist who uses elderly people for her friends gain then they say wonder how I got caught.well you cant represent the quote caregiver 10 times and knowingly put her in wards homes!i sure would like to get paid 1400 dollars a week to say yep I took care of elderly people