Florida lawyer accused of swiping $450,000 from mother’s trust says father stole from him

by David J. Neal

A Boca Raton lawyer’s emergency suspension for allegedly stealing $450,000 from his mother’s trust fund (and forging documents to hide it) shines the light on an intrafamily feud.

Brandon Labiner is the aforementioned suspended lawyer. He’s being sued by his father, Paul Labiner, who alleges Brandon stole from a trust fund he set up for his wife, Brandon’s mother. The Florida Bar said an investigation backed up Paul Labiner’s claims and successfully petitioned for Brandon’s emergency suspension.

Brandon denies everything and says he’s filed a Bar complaint that is still pending saying Paul stole from Brandon’s personal injury firm to replace the money lost to a bookkeeper’s embezzlement.

The only person dealing with criminal charges? The bookkeeper.

A criminal complaint in the case, which moved from Fort Lauderdale federal court to New Jersey federal court, says Margate’s Janet Blissett embezzled $3 million from the Boca Raton law firm for which she worked. Brandon Labiner told the Miami Herald that Boca Raton law firm is the one he shared with his father, and that Paul stole from Brandon to replace the money embezzled by Blissett.

So, for those scoring at home: One family, two lawyers, two Bar complaints, one civil suit in Palm Beach County, one federal criminal complaint, one drained trust fund, one suspended lawyer and one bookkeeper criminally charged.

Dad sues son

Paul Labiner’s lawsuit said he set up a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) for his wife in December 2021 and installed Brandon as the Trustee. At the time, the two worked together in the law firm Paul started, Paul doing estate planning and corporate law, Brandon handling the side called the Personal Injury & Accident Law Center.

The lawsuit blames Brandon’s work ethic and “subpar performance as a plaintiff’s attorney” for shrinking the personal injury business while claiming Brandon and his wife continued to live large. Paul’s lawsuit also accused Brandon of getting scammed out of $100,000 because Brandon wired good money to a client who gave Brandon a bad check.

That, the lawsuit says, spurred Brandon to log onto the office email system as Paul and move money from his father’s account to his own last summer. Paul kicked Brandon out of their shared officespace. He also filed an emergency petition in Palm Beach County court to have Brandon removed as the SLAT’s trustee.

That petition was rejected. But, the lawsuit says, soon after the petition was filed, Brandon began making wire transfers out to bank accounts and making Venmo payments. The lawsuit also accuses Brandon of forging Paul’s name on a $10,000 check.

Dad files Bar complaint

Paul Labiner also submitted a Florida Bar complaint concerning his son.

In its petition for Brandon’s emergency suspension, the Florida Bar said, “The bar’s investigation indicates that during the period of June 7, 2022 through Aug. 24, 2022, [Brandon Labiner] misappropriated at least $451,219.58 of Mindy Labiner’s funds from the Labiner SLAT Trust for his personal benefit, not for the purpose intended by Mindy Labiner.”

Brandon Labiner said Thursday to the Herald, “The allegations are false. I deny all of the claims.”

The Florida Bar’s emergency suspension petition said, “In response to the bar complaint submitted by Paul, [Brandon Labiner] admitted to taking $451,219.58 and stated, “Upon discovering that Paul Labiner withdrew $454,727.01 from my law firm accounts, I acted prudently in exercising my discretionary powers as Trustee under Articles XV and XVI of the Labiner SLAT account to reimburse the stolen funds by Paul from the PIA firm trust and operating accounts.”

Brandon Labiner also said he was planning to appeal his suspension.

The Bar also said Brandon Labiner manufactured evidence to support his claim that his father stole $454,727 from Brandon’s accounts.

A lawsuit by Paul Labiner claims his son, Brandon Labiner, forged Paul’s name on this check.

“Official certified bank records,” the Bar said, “indicated the bank documents [Brandon Labiner] provided were forged and none of the alleged unauthorized transfers by Paul occurred.”

Brandon said the records are legitimate, he wound up with them by accident and “They weren’t in response to the complaint against me. Those were sent to the bar in support of my bar complaint against him.”

Labiner said his father withdrew those funds to replace what bookkeeper Janet Blissett embezzled. A May 2022 criminal complaint said “Law Firm-1” estimated Blissett stole $3 million from the firm’s operating and trust accounts. Labiner said their law firm was Law Firm-1.

The criminal complaint says from November 18, 2021 to Jan. 27, 2022, Blissett made 11 unauthorized withdrawals or payments to outside accounts, including accounts in New Jersey.

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Florida lawyer accused of swiping $450,000 from mother’s trust says father stole from him