Restraining order bars Santa Maria attorney from transfers of property

A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge on Friday approved a temporary restraining order preventing Santa Maria attorney Debbie Morawski from transferring her stake in a company that runs The Salty Brigade Restaurant located on Skyway Drive and an Orcutt residence she co-owns. - Dave Minsky, Staff

by Dave Minsky

A judge on Friday approved a temporary restraining order barring a Santa Maria attorney accused of fraud charges from transferring ownership of a home and business in a criminal case connected to a Santa Barbara County probate matter filed in 2018.

The order, which was approved by Superior Court Judge James Herman, accompanied a petition for preliminary injunction filed Thursday and prevents transfers of property in an Orcutt residence and Santa Maria business co-owned by Debbie Morawski, 47, who is facing more than a dozen fraud charges connected to a probate case filed April 9, 2018, according to Deputy District Attorney Casey Nelson. 

Morawski on June 28 pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were filed on May 6 and include eight counts of money laundering, three counts of embezzlement and one count each of preparing false evidence and theft from an elder or dependent adult.

Additionally, Morawski denied two enhancements, including that the amount of the embezzlement was in excess of $500,000 and an enhancement that extends the statute of limitations for the case.

The order prevents Morawski from transferring ownership in a newly-acquired residence in Orcutt and her stake in a business that controls The Salty Brigade Restaurant located on Skyway Drive in Santa Maria. The restaurant was shuttered Tuesday with a note taped to the door stating it was closed due to a family emergency.

Because Morawski was charged with a white collar crime, the request was made "to preserve any asset or property" in her control with transfer to a third party for the purposes of paying restitution and fines, if there is a conviction, according to Nelson.

The order also directs Rabobank to immediately disclose account numbers related to Morawski and her husband. 

Morawski entered her plea on the same day as a probate case judgment in the amount of $1,437,318.05 was awarded to Susan Wilcox-Grayum and Betsy Tuttle, who accused Morawski of surreptitiously replacing them as the sole trustee in the estate of their mother, Delta L. Campbell, who died Sept. 13, 2017 at the age of 93.

It was ultimately the probate case that led to the criminal charges, according to a declaration by District Attorney's Office investigator Kristin Shamordola.

Adrienne Harbottle, a Santa Barbara County public defender and attorney for Morawski, did not return calls for comment. 

The case begins with Campbell's original $2 million family trust, which Morawski drafted and notarized Aug. 17, 2011, according to court records. 

Two years later, in August 2013, the daughters accused Morawski of immediately embezzling funds after drafting an amendment that gave her sole control over the trust. 

Accounting filings analyzed by a forensic accountant showed Morawski embezzled more than $500,000, including for personal expenses such tuition payments for her boyfriend's son, trips to Yosemite National Park and self-written checks for "attorneys fees" before she resigned as trustee on March 11, 2020 according to court records. 

The filings analyzed by the forensic accountant showed that Morawski's accounting information allegedly contained misleading statements and labeled the money she embezzled as "trust transfers" to obscure her actions. 

Morawski continued to spend nearly $55,000 from the trust even after the court suspended her authority in a July 29, 2019 order, according to records. 

Morawski is scheduled to appear for a hearing at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 23 in Superior Court of Santa Maria. 

Full Article & Source:

Restraining order bars Santa Maria attorney from transfers of property

Judge freezes assets of famed L.A. lawyer Tom Girardi, citing millions unpaid to clients

Thomas Girardi is seen at an undated court hearing.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan

A federal judge in Chicago has frozen the assets of prominent Los Angeles attorney Thomas Girardi, finding that he misappropriated at least $2 million in client funds that were due to the families of those killed in the crash of a Boeing jet in Indonesia.

At a contempt hearing Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin called Girardi’s conduct “unconscionable” and said he was referring him to the U.S. attorney’s office for criminal investigation.

“No matter what your personal financial situation is, no matter what kind of pressures you are under, if you touch client money, you are going to be disbarred and quite possibly charged criminally,” said Durkin, calling it “ethics 101.”

“You learn that in law school,” the judge said, “and someone as experienced as Mr. Girardi knows that as well as anyone.”

Girardi, 81, is one of the nation’s preeminent civil lawyers, thanks to his role in the case that inspired the film “Erin Brockovich” and, more recently, appearances on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alongside his now-estranged third wife, a 49-year-old pop singer known as Erika Jayne.

During the hearing, two attorneys representing Girardi said he did not currently possess the $2 million owed his clients. Los Angeles attorney Evan Jenness told the judge her client’s firm, Girardi Keese, had about $15,000 in its operating accounts.

“They were unable to make payroll more recently,” Jenness told the judge. The lawyer also cited “obligations and debts,” as well as an anticipated family court battle with Jayne over their assets. She filed for divorce last month after more than 20 years of marriage.

Girardi attended the court hearing by phone but did not speak beyond acknowledging his presence. His lawyers, who were hired in recent days, said Girardi had not been able to assist them in preparing a defense for the hearing. They said they had concerns about his mental competency.

“I’m unsure that he understands either the nature or the gravity of the current situation,” said Jenness, who told the judge she wanted Girardi to undergo a mental examination.

Another lawyer for the plane crash victims’ families called those assertions “a sham.” Attorney Jay Edelson, whose firm alerted the judge to the misappropriated funds, told Durkin that, as recently as last week, Girardi was offering him money in an attempt to stave off the contempt hearing.

Durkin also ordered that a trustee be appointed to oversee whatever assets remained to Girardi and his firm. The priority, he said, was for Girardi’s clients to receive their entire settlement.

“These are widows and orphans,” he said, noting each was due about $500,000. “Half a million dollars for any one of these families is significant money, life-changing given the tragedy they have been through and trying to carry on in the aftermath.”

The settlements at issue stem from the crash of Lion Air Flight 610, which plunged into the ocean off Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. The plane was a 737 Max, the jet that Boeing subsequently grounded because of problems with its anti-stall software.

The missing money is part of the amount Girardi and his firm negotiated from Boeing for four families, and the federal judge was overseeing the litigation and the payouts. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but based on remarks in court, each client was to have been paid $2 million but had only received about 75% of the money owed to them.

Last week, Edelson’s law firm filed a separate lawsuit against Girardi, accusing him of diverting the Lion Air settlement money to finance his “public image of obscene wealth” for him and his wife.

 

Full Article & Source:

Judge freezes assets of famed L.A. lawyer Tom Girardi, citing millions unpaid to clients

Attorney Accused of Stealing Millions Surrenders

The local attorney accused of stealing millions in settlement funds from his own injured clients has turned himself into police.

It was those injured clients expecting thousands in insurance payouts who tipped off investigators that attorney William “Bill” Snipes was allegedly pocketing all the money and suddenly no where to be found until this past Sunday.

According to a source with first hand knowledge of the case, Bill Snipes turned himself into police on the advice of his out of town defense attorney ten days after his brother was taken into custody at a little league baseball game in Harris County.

Bill Snipes had been a well known local attorney for more than three decades when clients started to emerge this past January with horror stories about severe injuries, mounting medical bills and millions in insurance payouts missing, along with Snipes.

“It’s pretty bad when you put your faith and trust in a lawyer, a ‘prominent attorney’ and they do this to you. I want to see him go to jail. I’d like to go visit him,” said Birdie Watford

We contacted Watford to let her know Snipes was now in the Muscogee County jail charged with three counts of felony theft by taking.

Using expletives Watford echoed the sentiments of other victims demanding their money back.

The initial victims who stepped forward are the tip of the iceberg according to financial crimes detectives who are now examining nearly two dozen claims against the disgraced attorney.
Since a First News investigation first aired, several more victims have come forward.

The brother of Bill Snipes, Malcolm Snipes was also charged in connection to the case after detectives said he withdrew thousands from a trust account intended for those injured clients.

Malcolm Snipes also remains in jail on a $125,000 bond.

Bill Snipes is scheduled to appear in Recorder’s Court Wednesday morning.

Full Article & Source:
Attorney Accused of Stealing Millions Surrenders