Monday, July 8, 2013

Mt. Pleasant lawyer disbarred for stealing money


A Mt. Pleasant lawyer who practiced for 11 years has been disbarred by the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board.
 
A hearing panel originally recommended that lawyer Mark J. Tyslenko’s license simply be suspended for 45 days, but the attorney discipline board imposed the full sanction of revoking Tyslenko’s license.
  
According to discipline board documents, Tyslenko kept a total of $9,200 in fees paid to him by clients. The money was supposed to go to the law firm that employed him at the time.
“This is an unfortunate case,” the members of the discipline board wrote. “(Tyslenko), an II-year practitioner with an otherwise clean record and some support in his legal community, made a series of bad decisions, which are entirely inconsistent with the most basic character requirements of a lawyer.”
 
The board’s documents indicated that during 2009 and 2010, Tyslenko had run into financial difficulties. He was having trouble paying his mortgage, as well as medical and other bills for members of his family.
 
Tyslenko, who was working for the Joseph T. Barberi P.C. law firm at the time, admitted taking client payments on five separate occasions but failing to turn them over to the firm. Tyslenko was dismissed from the Barberi firm in October 2010, then went into solo practice.

Full Article and Source:
Pleasant lawyer disbarred for stealing money

4 comments:

  1. Every lawyer who steals should be disbarred, period.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes. If there are enough of these cases tried, ending with disbarment...WHAT ABOUT JAIL??? The word will pass among those in the law field...and embolden ethical lawyers to help fight back. Encourage family members to report fraud, etc.

    Now those involved in this state will know how serious this is...and similar penalties can be expected...let's hope...

    ReplyDelete
  3. If the Bar disbarred the thieves, then perhaps they'd think before thieving!

    ReplyDelete