Bankruptcy lawyer gives up law license to avoid federal fraud charges

A New Orleans lawyer who was suspended for advising the disgraced U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous of Metairie to file for bankruptcy under an alias will give up his law license permanently to avoid criminal prosecution in another fraud case, officials said Friday. The Louisiana Supreme Court announced it would let Claude Lightfoot voluntarily give up his law license in lieu of professional discipline, but the move also spares Lightfoot from federal prosecution on a fraud charge, said Charles Plattsmier, chief disciplinary counsel for the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board.

Lightfoot was indicted in 2012 on charges of helping a bankruptcy client hide $24,000 from creditors. Trial is pending.

"It was a new one for me, frankly," Plattsmier said. Federal prosecutors "felt that his crimes were linked to his bankruptcy practice. They thought they could protect the public by getting him to agree to surrender his law license permanently. It was a little unusual."

Lightfoot previously was suspended for six months in 2012 for instructing Porteous to file his bankruptcy petition under a slightly altered version of his real name, to avoid public embarrassment. A judge in Jefferson Parish before he was appointed to the federal bench, Porteous was later impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for misconduct exposed in the FBI's Wrinkled Robe investigation of corruption in the Gretna courthouse and other misdeeds. The Senate removed him from office.

The Disciplinary Board had been monitoring Lightfoot's criminal case but had not acted to suspend his license while the charges were pending, Plattsmier said. Had he been convicted, Lightfoot could have been permanently disbarred, Plattsmier said.

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Bankruptcy lawyer gives up law license to avoid federal fraud charges