Disbarred Lackawanna County attorney charged with forgery, tampering records

by Emily Cherkauskas

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE CO. (WOLF) — A disbarred Lackawanna County attorney is now facing charges of forgery and tampering with records.

James Conaboy is expected to be arraigned on Thursday in Luzerne County for two charges each of forgery and tampering records, accused of lying to clients and forging signatures.

Conaboy was initially disbarred in 2023 amid the investigation.

In 2015, Teresa Matheson had hip surgery that resulted in complications and multiple following surgeries. In 2017, Conaboy, at the time an attorney with Abrahamsen, Conaboy & Abrahamsen, filed a medical malpractice suit against Geisinger. In April 2021, Conaboy notified the Mathesons that they were awarded $700,000 in a settlement and would receive the money a short time later, according to police. Despite making calls to Conaboy on a weekly basis, they never received the money, police said.

In March 2022, Teresa Matheson had received a document from Conaboy started that she will receive an extra $100,000 as interest since she had still not received the money. Later that month, she received a court document from Conaboy allegedly signed by Lackawanna County Judge Therence Nealon stating that the money was to be sent from the Catastrophic Loss Benefits Continuation Fund of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Later that month, Matheson received another court document from Conaboy, again thought to be signed by Judge Nealon, stating that Teresa Matheson was to be delivered $700,000.

However, in April 2022, the Mathesons received a phone call from Conaboy telling them "everything was a hoax and the court documents were fake," police wrote in an affidavit.

In a June 2022 interview, Conaboy told police that the suit was terminated on July 7, 2020, "since the claim could not be supported by a medical professional." Conaboy denied taking any money or defrauding the Mathesons in any way, according to an affidavit.

In the interview, Conaboy was shown several printed emails supplied by the Mathesons reportedly from Conaboy. However, Conaboy said he did not send those emails and has not spoken to the Mathesons since the suit was terminated in July 2020.

Through investigation, authorities discovered that:

• The Lackawanna County Clerk of Courts did not have the two-Judge Nealon documents
• Judge Nealon never issued the two orders
• Geisinger was never served with legal paperwork related to the lawsuit

In September 2022, the Office of the Attorney General took over the investigation, and agents began to question more victims.

In another medical malpractice case in 2022, Conaboy reached a $25,00 settlement with Mid Valley Outpatient Care for his client, James Moran. However, the case ended up moving forward and no settlement was reached with the doctor.

Conaboy had been leading Moran to believe the case then settled for $50,000, when in reality, the case settled for zero, according to police. Conaboy reportedly made several excuses as to why the money had not been sent to Moran.

Moran then saw in Feb. 2023 that Conaboy had been removed from the Abrahamsen, Conaboy & Abrahamsen website, and called the firm to ask about it. Conaboy's brother, Kevin Conaboy, said that he had a mental breakdown and told Moran that his case was over without a payout.

In July 2023, investigators met with Paul Grace, another victim, who had worked with the Department of Labor and Industry Bureau of Disability as a disability adjudicator.

Conaboy, who was a family friend of Grace, advised that Grace should file a lawsuit against the Department of Labor and Industry. In 2017, Conaboy led Grace to believe that he was entitled to $517,000 in a settlement but once again gave Grace various excuses as to why Grace hadn't received the money.

In one excuse, Conaboy sent Grace a forged document from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, falsely signed then-Inspector General Bruce Beemer seeking court action to have the money returned since it was taken from the wrong Commonwealth account.

In May 2023, Kevin Conaboy told Grace that everything James Conaboy told him was false and that the case ended up being dismissed in 2018.

Conaboy's arraignment is scheduled for Thursday in Luzerne County.

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Disbarred Lackawanna County attorney charged with forgery, tampering records

Disbarred attorney gets 1 year after admitting to theft of $360,000

By Jonathan Phelps Union Leader Staff

A disbarred attorney will spend a year in prison after pleading guilty Thursday afternoon to defrauding his clients of more than $360,000, including money from an estate meant to benefit Honor Flight New England.

David Dunn pleaded guilty to four counts of theft misapplication and was taken into custody immediately after Judge David Anderson sentenced him.

The plea and sentencing came with emotions from both victims and supporters of Dunn. More than a dozen people sat on one side of the gallery, including about a half-dozen wearing “Honor Flight Guardian” T-shirts, and nearly 40 sat behind Dunn showing support.

Anderson addressed both sides in making his decision, saying Dunn’s actions were “a deep breach” of clients’ trust in their attorney.

“This was a serious and systematic failure that happened over a five-year period,” Anderson said.

He said letters of support show that Dunn has “given much” throughout his life.

“The monies have been repaid, which is a significant factor,” Anderson said.

Prosecutor Bryan Townsend asked for a sentence of 5 to 10 years with 2 1/2 years suspended.

“This defendant, as an attorney, was in the ultimate position of trust and he abused that trust over and over and over again over the course of five years,” he said.

As for Honor Flight, the organization that takes veterans on trips to Washington to see the nation’s memorials, Dunn “felt his needs to take precedence over that of disabled veterans,” Townsend said.

Townsend said Dunn has attempted to use his health and overwork as a “get out of jail free” card. The theft took place between March 3, 2016, and June 9, 2021, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Dunn’s attorney, Michael Iacopino, argued for Dunn to be released on probation, especially after having a brain tumor removed in 2012 and suffering from deep depression.

“It is interesting how the state turns the good things in David’s life around and tries to turn them into aggravated factors,” Iacopino said.

Part of the money was used to help a client who indicated he was about to lose his home, Iacopino said. Some of the money went to pay for operating expenses.

“He didn’t do it to go out and buy a fancy car. He didn’t do it to wear fancy suits,” Iacopino said.

From a podium at the front of the courtroom, Dunn turned around and spoke directly to at least one victim and supporters of Honor Flight New England to say he was sorry.

“I do not want to make excuses. I am the one responsible for my actions and no one else is to blame,” he said. “What I did was wrong.”

Dunn, who was disbarred last year, said he planned to replace the funds.

Victim advocate Amy Van Auken read a letter on behalf of a victim identified as “SB,” who had more than $100,000 stolen from a trust fund.

“David took more than money from me. He took my sense of well-being and security,” she wrote. “I know that I am not the only one who has suffered.”

World War II veteran Alphonse Pitcher donated a portion of his estate to Honor Flight, according to court documents. It was Honor Flight’s attorney Neil Nicholson who exposed the fraud.

Joseph Byron, Honor Flight founder and executive director, shared touching stories of sending veterans, mostly seniors, to Washington to visit and reflect at their memorials.

“In our case, you stole money from the estate of a World War II veteran who was touched by his Honor Flight,” Byron said. “He just wanted to do more, so that others could feel what they felt on that day, the day of admiration, the welcome home that he probably had never received.”

Three people spoke on Dunn’s behalf, including his daughter Devon.

Devon Dunn asked Anderson for leniency, calling him an “amazing father, outstanding member of the community and just a really good man.”

Townsend said he has never seen so many letters of support for a defendant, but he needs to be held accountable to send a message to other fiduciaries.

“What the defendant did was severe. What he did was repeated,” Townsend said. “What he did was steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients.”

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Disbarred attorney gets 1 year after admitting to theft of $360,000

O’Briant enters guilty pleas in theft from 95-year-old law firm client

By Jim Measel

LANSING, MI (WTVB) – A disbarred attorney from Coldwater has entered guilty pleas in Kalamazoo County to four counts of Larceny of $20,000 or More and two counts of Taxes-Failure to File/False Return.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says 63-year-old James O’Briant had access to the victim’s money through his employment under a licensed attorney who had a representation agreement with the 95-year-old victim and agreed to temporarily hold their money in the law firm’s trust account for safekeeping.

Nessel says O’Briant transferred the victim’s money from the trust account to the firm’s business accounts and then withdrew and transferred the money again to use for his own purposes. Those transfers included over $40,000 to O’Briant’s personal investment accounts.

O’Briant did not report the money he stole from the victim on his 2018 and 2019 taxes.

The plea agreement requires O’Briant to pay restitution of over $154,000 to the victim by the end of April, and to agree to pay restitution of over $13,000 to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

O’Briant will be permitted to be sentenced on one count of Larceny $20,000 or More and one count of Taxes-Failure to File/False Return, and the remaining charges would be dismissed only if the terms of the plea agreement are met.

Sentencing is set for May 6, 2024.

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O’Briant enters guilty pleas in theft from 95-year-old law firm client

Former Willmar attorney Gregory Anderson to serve 18 months for bankruptcy fraud for hiding client's assets

Now disbarred, former Willmar attorney Gregory Anderson pleaded guilty to fraud in hiding business assets of the former Mayor of Kerkhoven in bankruptcy proceedings.

Gregory Anderson

By Tom Cherveny

ST. PAUL — Disbarred Willmar Attorney Gregory Anderson, 63, will serve a federal sentence of 18 months in prison for his role in concealing the business assets of former Kerkhoven Mayor James Rothers in bankruptcy proceedings.

U.S. District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud sentenced Anderson to the prison term on Wednesday during a court appearance in federal District Court in St. Paul. He also ordered that Anderson serve one year of supervised release following his release from prison and pay a fine of $20,000.

The sentencing follows Anderson’s guilty plea on Aug. 8 to one count of fraudulent concealment of bankruptcy assets.

A plea agreement reached at that time included a requirement that Anderson be voluntarily disbarred.

The sentence is below the sentencing range that had been approved earlier in a plea agreement. It called for a range of 24 to 30 months of imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

Prior to sentencing, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Sing supported the 24-month sentence, or the lower end of the agreement. In a filing with the court, they stated that Anderson’s remorse for his criminal conduct “appears thoughtful and genuine.”

They also described his criminal conduct as “rather extraordinary” and “remarkable.” They stated that a 24-month sentence “is necessary to reflect the seriousness of this offense, promote respect for the law, and provide just punishment for his actions.”

The sentence is the conclusion to an otherwise successful law career that began in 1987 when Anderson was sworn into the bar by his father.

Anderson filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on behalf of Rothers in November 2015. Rothers had approached Anderson for legal counsel in mid-2011 when one of his grain-bin construction businesses, West Central Crane, was in a contract dispute and likely to be sued.

“Anderson spent the next four plus years helping Rothers hide assets and avoid liability,” the prosecuting attorney said in court filings.

The court found that Anderson created fake liabilities to create the appearance that Rothers was insolvent when, in fact, Rothers could easily have paid all of his creditors.

According to the court, Anderson arranged to have a fictitious lawsuit filed against Rothers, and then instructed Rothers to default in that lawsuit. It created a judgment of approximately $608,000 against Rothers to further the appearance that he was insolvent.

Anderson also created documents to make it appear that an Iowa company had loaned $240,000 to Rothers and that he had an obligation to repay what is now known to have been a bogus loan.

Overall, Anderson helped Rothers hide more than $1 million in assets in what the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota called a “senseless attempt” to help Rothers discharge $173,591 in debts.

The fraud included Anderson’s help in hiding 100,000 gold coins Rothers had purchased as part of the scam. Anderson also helped place $465,640.26 in the bank account of ABS Bin of Minnesota, which Rothers falsely claimed that he did not own.

The attorney also helped Rothers in placing $227,284.26 in ABC Bin of Iowa. It’s from this business account that Rothers paid Anderson.

The attorney and Rothers also helped conceal $582,423 in cashed checks to Rothers’s businesses shortly after the bankruptcy filing. He also assisted in taking numerous vehicles and trailers out of Rothers’ name just prior to the bankruptcy filing, according to the prosecuting attorneys.

The fraud was discovered prior to any discharge of the debts. The case was the result of an investigation by the FBI.

Rothers' businesses have paid the creditors and, according to court documents, he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses. He is scheduled for sentencing later this month on one count of fraud for concealment of bankruptcy assets. Rothers pleaded guilty Nov. 7, 2019, and has assisted investigators in the case against Anderson.

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Former Willmar attorney Gregory Anderson to serve 18 months for bankruptcy fraud for hiding client's assets 

Pa. lawyer pleads guilty to stealing $1 million from his clients

By Chris Mautner

A formerly prominent Chester County attorney has plead guilty to stealing over $1 million from clients, according to a story from The Daily Local News.

Thomas Evan Schindler, 62, of Newlin Township, admitted in court that he had taken money from clients that he was not entitled to, and had in one case lied about where the money was.

The total number of money stolen comes to more than $1 million, according to a summary of the cases provided by prosecutor Deputy District Attorney William J. Judge Jr.

According to the terms of his plea agreement, Schindler will be sentenced to a state prison term of 2.5 to 6 years. He will be placed on probation following his prison term, and have to make restitution to the four victims in the case, three of whom had hired him to represent them in civil and criminal cases, the news site said.

Schindler was initially charged by Easttown police in June 2021 with stealing over $991,000 from a former client who hired him for a divorce proceeding. According to the Daily Local News, Schindler failed to make the required transfers of proceeds from the sale of the couple’s home. 

He was then arrested this year by Chester County detectives, and charged with two separate cases of stealing $86,000 from former clients, looting an escrow account that had been set up to handle the victims’ funds and taking money to represent a man charged in a criminal case but doing little or no work before he was disbarred. In one case, he reported the theft to investigators himself, the news outlet reported.

Schindler, who was disbarred in 2020, will remain free on bail until he is formally sentenced, sometime early next year.

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Pa. lawyer pleads guilty to stealing $1 million from his clients

Disbarred lawyer can't blame bank fraud on old football injury - appeals court

By Barbara Grzincic 

Sept 2, 2022; Uvalde, TX, USA; Football players watch the game from the sideline. Mandatory Credit: Sara Diggins-USA TODAY NETWORK

Summary

• Defendant argued that brain disorders nixed specific criminal intent
• 6th Circuit found the lawyer's conviction and 30-month sentence proper

(Reuters) - A disbarred Tennessee lawyer cannot claim that head injuries he suffered playing football in high school and college made it impossible for him to form a criminal intent to commit federal bank fraud, a federal appeals court held Wednesday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and 30-month sentence of George Skouteris Jr, who had settled several cases between 2007 and 2013 without his clients’ knowledge and signed their names to deposit the checks to his own account. Those same actions had resulted in Skouteris’ disbarment in 2014.

At his criminal trial April 2021 in U.S. District Court in Memphis, the defense argued the federal bank fraud statute required the prosecution to show that Skouteris specifically intended to defraud the bank, and that his “days on the gridiron had left him with mental impairments — including possible chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — that cast doubt on whether he had the requisite state of mind,” Circuit Judge Chad Readler wrote Wednesday for the three-judge appellate panel.

Both sides introduced evidence and expert testimony about Skouteris’ mental disorders, but the trial judge declined to instruct the jury that evidence of “diminished mental capacity” could provide “reasonable doubt” that Skouteris lacked a specific intent to defraud the bank.

That was the right call, the 6th Circuit said. Despite some older appellate decisions to the contrary, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear in 2016 that the bank-fraud statute only requires prosecutors to show that defendants knew their actions were likely to cost the bank money – not that they purposely set out to do so.

Applying that “clarified standard,” the 6th Circuit said, “a mountain of circumstantial evidence demonstrated Skouteris’s knowledge that depositing unauthorized settlement checks into his own account was likely to wrongfully deprive the bank of its property.”

Former clients and colleagues had described Skouteris as a “detail-oriented lawyer who did not exhibit signs of a diminished mental capacity,” while others testified that Skouteris repeatedly lied to clients about the status of their settlements, “suggesting that he knew he was engaged in deception when cashing the settlement checks.”

In addition, the fact that Skouteris had engaged in similar behavior in seven cases over the “better course of a decade,” even after being confronted and sued for doing so, suggested that his actions “were no accident,” Readler wrote.

“That evidence is reliable proof that Skouteris knew the likely consequences of his behavior,” the court concluded.

Attorneys for the prosecution and defense declined to comment on Wednesday.

The case is USA v. Skouteris, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals No. 21-6221.

For Skouteris: Josie Holland of Holland Law

For the USA: Carroll André III, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee

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Disbarred lawyer can't blame bank fraud on old football injury - appeals court

Disbarred New York Attorney Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of New York

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Disbarred New York Attorney Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud Scheme

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JAESON BIRNBAUM, a disbarred lawyer, was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for defrauding investors in his now bankrupt litigation finance firm, “Cash4Cases.”  BIRNBAUM previously pled guilty to securities fraud for misappropriating investors funds and pledging the same lawsuit recoveries as collateral to multiple parties, contrary to his representations.  U.S. District Paul A. Crotty imposed the sentence in Manhattan federal court.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated: “As a lawyer Birnbaum understood the importance of honest dealings and putting his investors first.  Instead, Birnbaum chose to lie to his investors in order to steal their money and cover up his fraud by doctoring company records.  Through today’s sentence, Birnbaum has been held accountable for this serious fraud.”

According to statements in the Information, and other public filings and statements in court:

From at least in or about 2017 through in or about 2019, BIRNBAUM obtained more than $3 million in investments for Cash4Cases based on fraudulent misrepresentations.  These investments were in the form of promissory notes, titled “Investor Security Agreements” (“ISAs”), which purported to provide the relevant investors with a security interest in the recoveries associated with certain specified lawsuits that were ostensibly purchased by Cash4Cases.  In fact, in some instances, the lawsuits that were either never funded by Cash4Cases or BIRNBAUM had previously pledged their recoveries to other parties. 

To help carry out his fraud, BIRNBAUM directed an employee to falsify his company’s books and records to make it appear that the recoveries from lawsuits that had already been paid out were still available to be pledged as collateral to new investors.

BIRNBAUM also misappropriated a substantial portion of investors’ funds for his personal use and to make promised payments to earlier investors in Ponzi-like manner.  As one example, BIRNBAUM obtained a $1 million investment for Cash4Cases in September 2019.  Prior to this investment, BIRNBAUM told the investor that Cash4Cases would use the money exclusively for advances to litigants.  However, contrary to this representation, BIRNBAUM used the money to make a $530,000 down payment on the purchase of a house and to pay for other personal expenses and Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors.

*                *                *

BIRNBAUM, 48, of Boca Raton, Florida, was also sentenced to a three-year term of supervised release.  He was further ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $2,661,072.24 and to forfeit $2,661,072.24 in fraud proceeds.  

Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of the United States Postal Inspection Service and thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Loss is in charge of the prosecution.

Source:

Disbarred New York Attorney Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud Scheme

Former Newton client hoping attorney's disbarment ends term on Rockdale board

Sherri Washington

by Tom Spigolon

COVINGTON, Ga. — A Newton County resident says she was glad to hear about the state Supreme Court's ruling today, June 22, that a Rockdale County commissioner can no longer practice law in Georgia because she "failed to act diligently" for clients in time-sensitive cases. 

Tracy Belcher told The Covington News Wednesday she hoped the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling that Commissioner Sherri Lin Washington be disbarred and surrender her law license will lead to her being removed from the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners.

Belcher said Washington never paid her after a Rockdale County court ruled in August 2021 after the Covington resident sued the commissioner for return of the $3,000 fee Washington charged her for a case on which she took almost no action.

"I am so happy," Belcher said.

Belcher said she hired Washington after she successfully represented her in a previous, separate case. She also was told any other attorney would have needed only a few months to do what it had taken Washington five years to complete.

Then in 2019, neighbors repeatedly complained to police that Belcher's mother and father — who both suffered from dementia — often roamed their neighborhood and sought entrance to others' houses. She was forced to quit her job as a medical assistant and move in with her parents to take care of them. 

Belcher also said she needed an attorney quickly to avoid the courts taking action to take custody of her parents. She paid Washington in 2019 to do the legal work needed to become her parents' guardians and was told it would take about 30 days to complete. 

Washington then never returned calls or communicated about the status of the case and Belcher ultimately was unable to be appointed as custodian, she said. Luckily, her parents stopped leaving their house and it eventually was not an issue.

She later sued Washington's Conyers law firm, The Washington Law Group, for return of her fee. A judge ordered her to pay Belcher $3,096 in August 2021 during a hearing at which Washington failed to appear, according to court records.

Washington, however, did not pay as ordered and Belcher said she filed a complaint with the Bar Association. 

Her interactions with her clients — detailed in the Supreme Court's ruling — correspond to actions Belcher said Washington took in her case.

The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling upheld a State Disciplinary Review Board recommendation that Washington be disbarred "for her multiple violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct in connection with three separate client matters." 

The Court said Washington "failed to abide by her clients’ decisions, desires and directions regarding the scope and objectives of the representations; she failed to act diligently in filing, pursuing or responding in any of these clients’ matters; she failed to communicate or consult with these clients (or respond to their inquiries) about matters of importance in, or even the status of, their cases; and she failed to properly and timely respond to the personally served notices of investigation relating to each of these matters."

Among the claims cited by the Disciplinary Review Board in its recommendation was one from March 2017 in which a woman hired Washington to represent her in a divorce case. Washington did not file it quickly as requested, did not file a protective order, failed to keep the client advised about the case, and other items associated with the case. 

The client said she ultimately lost her health insurance coverage on her husband’s policy, was denied an equitable division of marital assets, denied alimony and required to pay her former husband $5,000 in attorney fees.

Other instances included Washington accepting a $515 fee to appeal a child molestation case, missing the appeal deadline and not returning the fee; and the attorney taking a $3,000 fee for a lawsuit against a building contractor, taking no action and not returning the fee until a Bar Association investigation began.

Washington finally was served with a formal complaint and "failed to timely answer or otherwise respond." That led to the Board's appointed special master finding the county commissioner was "in default such that the factual allegations and the disciplinary violations charged in the formal complaint were deemed admitted," the ruling stated.

Washington was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2007. She was elected to an at-large seat on the three-member Rockdale County Commission in 2016 and reelected in 2020. 

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Former Newton client hoping attorney's disbarment ends term on Rockdale board

Legal author's bar reinstatement bid rebuffed by D.C. ethics panel

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) - A disbarred author who has written extensively on the law has failed to show he is fit to resume practicing in the profession, a Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel said in a report released on Wednesday.

The report from a hearing committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility recommended that the D.C. Court of Appeals, which administers attorney discipline in the nation's capital, deny Joel Joseph's petition to be reinstated to the bar.

The D.C. Court of Appeals in 2015 disbarred Joseph, 73, as a reciprocal penalty after a Maryland court took that action over allegations that he deceived state and federal courts in California about where he was living.

The committee called Joseph "an intellectually robust and curious person." Joseph has litigated public-interest cases and has written books on the Justice Department and the courts, including "Black Mondays: Worst Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court."

Court rules allow attorneys to seek "pro hac vice" admission to represent a client in a state where the lawyer doesn't live or work. Joseph told California courts he was a resident of Maryland, where he had a bar license, when in fact he was living in California, the panel said.

"The nature and circumstances of petitioner's misconduct is serious and troubling," the ethics panel wrote in its report. "Lying to a court about his residency to obtain admission pro hac vice directly relates to [his] honesty, integrity and judgment."

Joseph did not immediately respond to messages on Thursday seeking comment.

The head of the D.C. bar's disciplinary office, Hamilton "Phil" Fox III, declined to comment.

The ethics panel said Joseph "has not proven that he recognizes the seriousness of his misconduct."

Joseph's "ongoing description of himself as a lawyer" after his 2011 disbarment in Maryland "is misleading to the public," the panel said.

At a hearing in his case in February, Joseph argued: "I can call myself a lawyer as long as I have a JD degree."

He criticized any continued effort by bar regulators in D.C. to prevent him from practicing.

"They should be busy going after the attorneys who are really cheating clients and doing bad things," he said.

In a filing, Joseph said his "punishment has been unreasonably severe."

The case is In the Matter of Joel D. Joseph, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, No. 21-BD-029.

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Legal author's bar reinstatement bid rebuffed by D.C. ethics panel

Disbarred Temecula attorney sentenced to probation for theft schemes

By City News Service

RIVERSIDE — A disbarred Riverside County attorney who stole money from clients and a nonprofit organization was on felony probation Monday for schemes uncovered while he was serving as trustee of an estate.

Edward John Nowakoski, 69, of Temecula pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of grand theft under a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped four related counts.

Superior Court Judge William Lebov at the Riverside Hall of Justice imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense — three years felony probation. The judge also ordered him to pay victim restitution in the amount of $562,854.

Nowakoski was disbarred by the California Bar Association on Sept. 22, 2021, losing all privileges to practice law in the state.

According to the D.A.’s office, the defendant specialized in trusts and estates, and after one of his clients died in 2016, he “transferred a significant portion of the estate funds to his own accounts, instead of disbursing it to the client’s family as directed in the trust.”

Over the ensuing two years, he used the money to cover personal expenses and helped pay for a friend’s education, prosecutors said.

At the same time, Nowakoski served as treasurer of the Southwest Riverside County Bar Association. During the sheriff’s investigation into the probate fraud, it was learned that the defendant had been siphoning membership funds out of the SWRCBA and using them for his own purposes, according to the prosecution.

Nowakoski was removed from his role as treasurer after he was disbarred and the criminal investigation was underway.

The defendant had no prior documented felony or misdemeanor convictions.

He had been practicing law since 1987.

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Disbarred Temecula attorney sentenced to probation for theft schemes

Disbarred CT attorney who accused judge of favoring Jewish people expected in court today

by Lisa Backus

Disbarred attorney Nickola Cunha will appear Monday in state Superior Court in Middletown after a judge ordered a state marshal to take her into custody for failing to show up at previous appearances.

MIDDLETOWN — A disbarred attorney who to failed to show up for a May court date to address her disbarment and her use of client funds will appear before a judge Monday after being taken into custody at a Wallingford restaurant over the week.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher disbarred former Hamden attorney Nickola Cunha earlier this year after she filed a motion, requesting a family court judge be removed from a pending divorce case because he “showed bias in favor of Jewish litigants and the disabled,” court documents said.

Cunha was slated to appear before Moukawasher in mid-May to provide a trustee with a list of client addresses and phone numbers and to deal with client funds that officials claimed she had inappropriately kept, court documents said. Cunha failed to show up, prompting the judge to issue a capias warrant, ordering state marshals to take her into custody to guarantee her appearance in court.

The deadline for the capias warrant was extended several times, court documents show, before Moukawsher ordered Cunha taken into custody on May 18. She was spotted at a Wallingford restaurant on Friday and taken into custody by a state marshal, according to the Hartford Courant.

Cunha is scheduled to appear Monday in state Superior Court in Middletown.

The state’s Chief Disciplinary Counsel Brian Staines submitted documents on June 1, claiming Cunha had inappropriately taken $78,000 from an accident settlement for a client after she had already withheld her $96,000 fee for handling the case.

Staines also said in the documents that Cuhna originally told the judge she took $30,000 from the client’s accident settlement to pay for previous pro bono work, but “failed to clarify throughout the hearing that the actual amount she took was $78,000.”

“She had no authority from the client to take this money,” Staines wrote in the filing.

Cunha was disbarred in January after Moukawsher ruled she had made “empty and malicious claims,” alleging another judge was engaged in a Judaism-based conspiracy and protected child sexual abuse as part of her representation of a Glastonbury woman engaged in a dissolution of marriage case.

In late April, as part of the ruling, Moukawsher ordered Cunha to turn over her clients’ contact information, along with active and pending files to a court-appointed trustee. The judge noted at the time that a recent withdrawal of $30,000 from a client’s account may have been illegal and required an audit.

Cunha turned over the information for three clients on May 13, according to the trustee who was appointed by the court after her disbarment. But Cunha failed to supply complete information for several other clients, court documents said. The trustee is also looking for financial information for some clients and what Cunha did with their retainers, court documents said.

Ben Lambert contributed to this story.

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Disbarred CT attorney who accused judge of favoring Jewish people expected in court today 

Delay in trial of disbarred Cobb County attorney accused of killing mother

Richard Merritt (Georgia Department of Correction)

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - The trial of a disgraced former Cobb County attorney who is accused of killing his own mother has been delayed yet again.

Richard Merritt was charged of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson has ordered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to do more testing on hair samples found at the scene.

The 48-year-old's trial was already delayed once due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2017, the FOX 5 I-Team investigated how more than a dozen victims said Merritt stole their settlement checks after handling their personal injury lawsuits.

In January 2019, a Cobb County judge sentenced Merritt to 15 years in prison for stealing more than $454,706 from 17 different clients. Merritt was given two weeks to get his affairs in order.

The day he was supposed to turn himself in, his 77-year-old mother cooked him his last family meal. Then with plates still on the table, and pots on the stove, police said Merritt brutally murdered her and then went on the run. 

The FOX 5 I-Team was there soon after Merritt was caught by U.S. Marshals in Tennessee. He was returned to DeKalb County and later transferred to a state correctional facility.

Merritt is serving 15 years for violating his probation on top of his 15-year sentence for theft and exploiting the elderly.

Jury selection was scheduled to being at 9 a.m. Monday. No word on a new date yet. The trial is expected to last a week.

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Delay in trial of disbarred Cobb County attorney accused of killing mother

Disbarred CT lawyer who accused judge of favoring Jewish people faces ultimatum

by  Liz Hardaway

 

Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher has ordered a disbarred Connecticut attorney to turn over documents or be taken into custody.
Michelle McLoughliln

A Connecticut attorney who was disbarred in January after accusing a judge of favoring Jewish people could be taken into custody Monday afternoon if she doesn’t provide the court with information about her former clients.

Disbarred Hamden attorney Nickola Cunha was originally scheduled to appear Wednesday at the judicial district courthouse in Middletown to provide the information, according to a memorandum from Judge Thomas Moukawsher.

Court officials said Cunha did not appear in court and had not provided the requested documents as of Thursday afternoon.

Cunha was disbarred on Jan. 25 after she alleged another judge was engaged in a Judaism-based conspiracy and protecting child sexual abuse. In a memorandum for her disbarment, Moukawsher said Cunha engaged in “grave misconduct” while representing a Glastonbury woman in a dissolution of marriage case.

 

During the case, Cunha alleged that Judge Gerald Adelmen favored Jewish people in cases and discriminated against the disabled. In this specific case, Cunha alleged Adelmen was protecting child sexual abuse, Moukawsher wrote in a memorandum in January.

After disbarring Cunha, Moukawsher ordered her to turn over her clients’ contact information and a written list of active and pending files to a court-appointed trustee.

“If she hasn’t provided the information sought before this hearing, the court will consider other steps to ensure compliance, including possible additional monetary sanctions, incarceration to secure compliance, or both,” Moukawsher wrote in a memorandum on April 27.

Since Cunha did not appear, nor provide the documents, Moukawsher on Wednesday ordered a capias, which directs law enforcement to take someone into custody and bring them before the court. This would not be a criminal arrest, a court official added.

Moukawsher originally ordered the capias to take effect Thursday afternoon, but postponed it twice. As of Friday afternoon, Cunha has until 3 p.m. Monday to produce relevant documents, according to court documents and officials.

Cunha’s lawyer, Norm Pattis, had previously requested Wednesday’s hearing be held remotely because he had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from attending in person. Moukawsher denied the request and ordered the hearing still take place in-person.

Pattis has not responded to requests for comment this week.

After being disbarred, Cunha was also not allowed to withdraw funds from clients’ accounts nor could she engage in any law-related activities, according to the April memorandum.

“She has not complied,” Moukawsher wrote in the memorandum. “Cunha, through her lawyers, says the court is powerless to do anything about it. Ms. Cunha claims that the moment the court disbarred her it lost jurisdiction over her.”

Less than a week after being disbarred, Cunha withdrew $30,000 from a client’s account, Moukawsher wrote in the memorandum.

Cunha claimed she did not have notice of the court’s order when she took the money. However, the court-appointed trustee, who was ordered to protect Cunha’s clients, said the former Hamden attorney was aware of the order and claimed her clients owed her money, according to Moukawsher.

Moukawsher said Cunha “didn’t say she might have misunderstood” the order.

“Instead, she darted around claiming at one point that she had no idea about the order, at another saying she didn’t remember her conversations, and at another point taking the Fifth Amendment,” the judge said.

“She struck the court as someone trying to avoid the truth, but doing a very bad job of it,” he wrote.

Moukawsher said Cunha was “without a doubt in contempt of the court’s order prohibiting her from taking her client’s money.”

Cunha was questioned during an April 18 hearing about taking the funds. Cunha asked for more time and said she had documents that would prove she had the legal right to take the money, Moukawsher wrote.

During another hearing on April 22, Moukawsher said Cunha did not enter any documents into evidence, and instead gave a “rambling account” of working for the client on various cases. She listed about $6,000 in expenses she incurred on behalf of the client, he said.

Moukawsher ordered an audit of Cunha’s dealing with her clients’ funds in general, as well as the $30,000.

A report of the audit was ordered to be filed with the court by Aug. 1, 2022.

For violating Moukawsher’s order against taking clients’ funds, the court sanctioned Cunha to $1,000.

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Disbarred CT lawyer who accused judge of favoring Jewish people faces ultimatum

Disbarred lawyer Robert Menard sentenced to six months in jail for stealing or mishandling about $1 million

by Cary Spivak

Disbarred lawyer Robert Menard, who prosecutors say pocketed or mishandled as much as $1 million from clients and his ex-law partner, was sentenced to six months in the House of Correction Thursday. 

In addition, Milwaukee County Judge Milton Childs also sentenced the once-prominent lawyer to four years in prison, followed by four years of extended supervision. The judge, however, stayed the prison time. He also ordered Menard to do 100 hours of community service.

Milwaukee County Judge Milton Childs Sr

The sentence was imposed near the end of a nearly two-hour sentencing hearing during which four of Menard's victims, some sobbing or holding back tears, told the court Menard caused them financial and emotional pain. A tearful Menard apologized for his actions — an apology the judge said he accepted on behalf of Milwaukee County.

Menard in January pleaded guilty to four felony counts of theft and embezzlement for bilking clients and his now-former law partner.

On Thursday about two dozen people sat in the courtroom's gallery, with Menard's family and friends on the left side of the courtroom and the victims and their supporters on the other side of the aisle. 

They listened quietly as a trembling and softly sobbing Menard pled for leniency and acknowledged he broke the law and violated his oath as an attorney.

Robert Menard

"I betrayed the trust of my clients, friends, family and the profession," Menard said. "I am ashamed and will walk a better and honest path."

Assistant District Attorney Nicolas Heitman urged Childs to sentence Menard, 59, to four years in prison for stealing from his clients.

"His law degree was a tool to steal," Heitman said.

At one point, the prosecutor held up a copy of the oath lawyers take and tore it in half.

"That's what (Menard) did so many times," Heitman said. "He used his job, his education, his position to steal — just like a robber uses a gun."

In an interview after the hearing Heitman declined to say exactly how much money Menard is believed to have stolen, saying the figure would be determined later at a restitution hearing. Menard was initially charged in 2019 and 2020 with pocketing about $1 million from clients and his former law firm partner.

Menard had practiced law for about 30 years and was a longtime partner in the firm of Derzon & Menard. The now-defunct firm was a frequent advertiser on sports radio and billed itself as the law firm for "average Joe" and used the fictional "Joe Bob" as its mascot. 

Joe Bob, the fictional character that had been used as the mascot for the now-defunct Derzon & Menard law firm. (Photo-Screen shot)

Childs noted that many of the clients in Menard's now-defunct law firm were already hurting because they had been injured on the job and hired him to handle worker's compensation claims.

"For the most part, the victims were (already) victims of something else" when Menard stole from them. 

Menard's attorney, Craig Mastantuono, argued Menard has already been punished, noting that his client is no longer practicing law because he was disbarred in 2020.

"The loss of one's profession is hard to minimize," Mastantuono said.

Robert Menard and his defense attorney Craig Mastantuono

Although Judge Child's accepted Menard's apology, the felon's uncle did not and his ex-law partner did not.

"Our children missed opportunities directly because of him," said Alan Derzon, his former law partner. Derzon said in a victim impact statement that he lost $286,796 to Menard.

Philip Menard said his nephew's actions caused a rift in the family and that Robert Menard still owed him $144,000. He said he asked his nephew a few years ago to represent him in a car accident case that resulted in a $500,000 settlement for the uncle.

In 2018 Philip Menard told the Journal Sentinel he had not seen a penny of the settlement. Philip Menard and his wife, Joyce Fletcher-Menard, sued their nephew in 2018 and won a $329,333 judgment.

"I wanted to believe him and believe he would not take advantage of me," Philip Menard said in court Thursday. He added that his nephew "should spend more than three years in prison."

"A man we trusted had clearly taken advantage of us," Fletcher-Menard wrote in a statement to the court. 

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Disbarred lawyer Robert Menard sentenced to six months in jail for stealing or mishandling about $1 million

Disbarred attorney says PNC should have caught ex-employee's embezzlement

By David Thomas

(Reuters) - A prominent Washington, D.C., criminal defense lawyer who was disbarred last year is suing PNC Bank NA, alleging it failed to stop his ex-employee from embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from him and his law firm.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in D.C. federal court, Bernard Grimm alleged PNC's failure to follow federal law and industry standards allowed his firm's former employee, Katherine Ross, to cash forged checks and transfer client money out of accounts his firm maintained.

In March 2020, PNC notified D.C. disciplinary officials that a check from one of Grimm's client trust accounts bounced, the lawsuit said. That kicked off an ethics investigation that "eventually caused plaintiff to surrender his license to practice," Grimm said.

The D.C. Court of Appeals' June order disbarring Grimm did not detail the underlying claims against him, but a court filing showed authorities were prepared to bring claims against Grimm including "failing to keep complete records, commingling and misappropriation" and "charging an unreasonable fee."

Grimm's lawsuit on Monday alleged he informed PNC multiple times of a fraudulent check scheme involving his accounts, but the bank still allowed Ross to make withdrawals and ignored other safeguards.

"It is difficult to imagine a bank being more incompetent than knowing that is being used as an instrument in criminal fraud scheme and taking no action to stop it," the lawsuit said.

A spokesperson for PNC Bank did not respond to a request for comment.

Ross pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in April 2021, stipulating to embezzling at least $320,000 from Grimm's law firm. Grimm alleged in his lawsuit that Ross embezzled at least $725,000 from him "through various methods ... none of which would have succeeded but for" PNC's failures.

In May 2021, Grimm consented to his disbarment, admitting that he violated bar rules requiring lawyers to safeguard client funds.

Grimm said in his lawsuit against PNC that the disciplinary process cost him more than $18,000 in legal fees, which he has been unable to pay.

Ross was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $320,000 in restitution to Grimm's law firm. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Grimm is represented in the PNC lawsuit by Barry Coburn of Washington's Coburn & Greenbaum. Coburn declined to comment.

The case is Grimm v. PNC Bank NA, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:22-cv-01006.

For Bernard Grimm: Barry Coburn of Coburn & Greenbaum

For PNC Bank: Not available

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Disbarred attorney says PNC should have caught ex-employee's embezzlement

Disbarred Chester County attorney faces more criminal charges

Thomas K. Schindler

By Michael P Rellahan

WEST CHESTER —  A once prominent but now discredited and disbarred Chester County attorney has been arrested again by Chester County Detectives and charged with two separate cases of stealing $86,000 from former clients, essentially looting an escrow account that had been set up to handle the victims’ funds.

Thomas K. Schindler, who was disbarred in 2020, is charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, and theft by failure to make the required disposition of funds. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Albert Iacocca on March 29 and released on bail.

Schindler had been awaiting trial before Chester County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Sommer on charges of stealing nearly $1 million from former clients who hired him for their divorce. The charges stemmed from a 2018 financial agreement with the victims where he failed to make required transfers of proceeds from the sale of their home.

The current charges deal with two clients, the first involving a man who hired him to represent him in a federal criminal case in 2019 and who allegedly paid him $95,000 in legal fees. The case was taken over by Schindler’s former co-counsel at the Schindler Law Group, Stephen Patrizio, after Schindler was disbarred. When the case was resolved and the man was ordered to pay a fine, he told Patrizio about the $95,000 he had given Schindler.

Even though Patrizio pressed Schindler to return the money on several occasions and Schindler allegedly promised to do so, the funds were never recovered. When Chester County Detective Keith Cowdright investigated Schindler’s legal escrow account, he found that Schindler had withdrawn all but $4,100 in 2019.

The second case involves a man who had hired Schindler to handle his divorce in 2014. As part of the settlement, a check was made out to the man for $100,000 from the sale of the former couple’s home. That check went to Schindler’s escrow account.

Despite making attempts to receive the funds, according to Cowdright’s affidavit, the man only received $30,000.  Detectives reviewed the bank records of Schindler Law Group in 2021 and discovered that after fees and payments for the victim’s divorce, the victim had not received the $2,070 that he was owed.

“Clients place enormous faith and trust in their lawyers to always have their best interests at heart, but that is broken when lawyers put their own greed above anything else,” said District Attorney Deb Ryan in announcing the arrests. “In stealing his clients’ money — and breaking their trust — Thomas Schindler also tarnished the reputation of the many good lawyers in our community. My office will push to hold him accountable under the law for his criminal actions.”

Schindler, 61, of Newlin, was once one of the most well-known and well-liked criminal defense attorneys in the Chester County Justice Center. A county native and son of a well-respected child psychiatrist, he is a graduate of Westtown School and first worked in the D.A.’s Office as a prosecutor, and then went to work for the law firm of Lamb, Windle & McErlane in West Chester.

He left that firm in the 1990s and opened his own private practice with a succession of partners, finally opening up the Schindler Law Group in Kennett. He handled all manner of criminal cases — including representation of one of the largest drug dealers in county history, Ricky Maitre — as well as family law matters. He was disbarred on consent in 2020, although the specifics behind that action have not been made public.

He is represented in all of the cases by defense attorney Vincent DiFabio of Tredyffrin. Deputy District Attorney William Judge is the assigned prosecutor.

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Disbarred Chester County attorney faces more criminal charges