by Norman Miller
WOBURN – A former Holliston “Citizen of the Year,” who served 12 years as a town selectman, is accused of misusing clients' money when he was an attorney.
Andrew Porter, 58, who now lives in Whitinsville, pleaded not guilty at his Middlesex Superior Court arraignment on Thursday to four counts of larceny by false pretense of more than $250. He is accused of using more than $71,000 of fraudulently obtained money for his own use.
Judge Helene Kazanjian released Porter without bail, but ordered him to not engage in selling securities, loans and other investments. He is due back in court on June 11.
Porter had already been disbarred for the financial fraud. In 2018, the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers disbarred Porter, alleging financial misconduct. That included billing his former firm and clients for personal expenses, intentional misuse of client trust account funds, and keeping a client’s retainer instead of giving it to his firm.
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| Andrew Porter, left, is seen in this 2016 Daily News file photo. |
Former Holliston Citizen of the Year
Porter was temporarily suspended from the bar in October 2015 while the investigation was underway. The March decision was retroactive to October. Porter was admitted to the bar in December 1988.
Later that year, Porter was found to be in contempt of that order when he offered divorce mediation services despite not having a license to do so. Porter denied the allegation but said he was not going to fight the order.
A list of accomplishments on his former business website included several family law awards, as well as his involvement in Project Just Because and Celebrate Holliston, his 2012 Holliston Citizen of the Year award and his four-time chairmanship of the 495 Corridor Partnership.
He was also a Holliston selectman for 12 years, according to Daily News archives.
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