Milford lawyer Harland L. Smith Jr. disbarred, accused of stealing $300K from clients

MILFORD – The state’s top court has disbarred a Milford attorney, accusing him of stealing more than $300,000 from clients and mishandling cases over at least two decades.

“There were multiple aggravating factors,” according to documents from the state Board of Bar Overseers, announcing the disbarment, “including the respondent’s experience in the practice of law, prior discipline, as well as dishonesty and lack of candor before the hearing committee.”

Harland L. Smith Jr., whose office is in downtown Milford, was most recently in Framingham District Court late last year on embezzlement charges. Holliston police accused Smith of stealing from a dead client, whose money should have gone to her estate and family, according to the state board and Holliston police.

That case, which played out between 2012 and 2017, and another from 2006 to 2018, were the subjects of particular scrutiny in Smith’s disbarment.

The board accused Smith of stealing at least $40,000 associated with the case, beginning in 2006, in which he handled money from a home sale in a divorce, and mishandled more. That included an accusation that Smith withdrew $160,000 meant for his client, but did not notify her or give it to her for years, and failed to give the money to his client for child support when asked.

State board documents said he inaccurately blamed the ex-husband for the lack of child support payments, and that the account plummeted from $210,899 to $140 under his care.

In the second case, with the Holliston client, the board claimed Smith took $17,456 in pension checks and a $9,577 insurance check meant for his client, as well as $183,865 in real estate proceeds. Some of that money, board documents said, was used to pay back the $160,000 due his client in the divorce case.

Smith was admitted to the bar in 1988. The Board of Bar Overseers records accuse him of mishandling multiple cases since the 1990s, saying he “took advantage of and victimized multiple vulnerable clients.”

In the earliest case in the board’s online records, Smith is accused of failing to secure necessary permission from a trustee.

“At the time that he filed suit, (Smith) knew that he was required to obtain permission of the trustee,” the board’s summary of that case reads, “but the statute of limitations was about to expire and the respondent was concerned that the trustee would not provide authorization in time.”

Over the years, the board publicly reprimanded Smith, and in 2011, gave him a stayed suspension of six months.

Smith lives in East Brookfield, according to phone records and Daily News archives. The voicemail for the number listed for Harland Smith Attorney at Law in Milford was full Tuesday, calls to the number went unanswered, and he was not available at his listed address of 134 Main St.

To comply with the order for disbarment from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Smith will have to do several things within a month, according to the documents. Those include officially withdrawing from every court where he has a case, resigning from all his attorney-related appointments, such as guardian, executor or trustee, and notifying all his clients that he has been disbarred. He will no longer be able to practice law as of May, though he can finish cases on which be might currently be working.

Full Article & Source:
Milford lawyer Harland L. Smith Jr. disbarred, accused of stealing $300K from clients

Ex-Teaneck Lawyer Stole $100K+, Kept Practicing Law: Officials

TEANECK, NJ — A disbarred township lawyer was arrested Tuesday after he stole more than $100,000 from clients and continued to practice law after his license was taken away, authorities announced.

Barry D. Friedman, 57, was charged with theft by deception, unauthorized practice of law, and misapplication of entrusted funds, said acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo.

Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Financial Crimes Unit received information from the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics about Friedman, Calo said.

Three times in May 2018, Freidman's attorney trust account had a negative balance, and he was not in compliance with attorney ethics regulations, Calo said.

In January 2018, the New Jersey Supreme Court temporarily suspended Friedman's license to practice law, Calo said. In April, Friedman agreed to the disbarment, which was finalized on May 23.

Friedman continued to practice law and got benefits after being disbarred, Calo said.

Friedman is scheduled to appear in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack Feb. 6.

Full Article & Source:
Ex-Teaneck Lawyer Stole $100K+, Kept Practicing Law: Officials

Grenadian American lawyer indicted for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from retired couple

(CMC) –A Grenadian American lawyer in Brooklyn has been indicted on a grand larceny charge for allegedly withholding proceeds from the US$1.7 million sale of a building in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn owned by a retired couple.

“This defendant was trusted with funds that he was obligated to give to his clients,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Friday.

“Instead, he allegedly betrayed that trust and kept $650,000 of his retired clients’ money. We will now seek to hold him accountable for this alleged theft.”

The District Attorney identified the lawyer as Gerald Douglas, 50.

Douglas was also arraigned on Thursday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun with second-degree grand larceny.

He was ordered held on bail of $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash and to return to court on February 6.

Douglas faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Gonzalez said according to the investigation, between August 2016 and March 2017, Douglas represented a couple in the sale of their nine-unit building at 11A Spencer Place in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Gonzalez alleged that Douglas represented the victims, a married couple, 70 and 71 years old, at the closing of the sale of their property on September 12, 2016, “at which time he received checks totaling nearly US$1.5 million, which, less the down payment, represented the balance owed.”

“It is alleged that the defendant kept the funds, depositing them into his escrow account,” the district attorney said. “He was also in possession of a down payment of US$170,000 that he received in August 2016.”

At the end of October 2016, Gonzalez said Douglas sent the victims a check for US$200,000 and a week later wired them US$600,000.

In March 2017, Gonzalez said Douglas gave the couple another check for US$100,000.

“Despite repeated and urgent requests from the victims, the defendant failed to turn over the balance of the funds, less his legal fee and a broker’s fee, which was approximately US$650,000,” Gonzalez said.

Full Article & Source:
Grenadian American lawyer indicted for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from retired couple

ISP: Attorney Stole More Than $100K From Special Needs Trust

(Brookville, Ind.) – An Indiana attorney is accused of taking money from trusts intended to help several people with special needs.

Kenneth Shane Service, 45, of Greenwood, was charged in Franklin County Court last month with Theft (level 5 felony) and two counts of Theft (level 6 felony).

Service’s law license was suspended in October of 2017, after he was first charged in Lawrence County with taking money from the special needs trusts of two residents there.

At the time, Indiana State Police detectives felt that there would be more victims, many of them special needs individuals for whom Service set up the trusts, in Indiana and other states.

It appears the hunch was correct. According to a September 17 court affidavit, Service allegedly stole more than $102,000 from a Brookville man who was the subject of a guardianship. One transaction for more than $71,000 was used to cover for money allegedly taken from another trust Service managed. Two withdrawals from the account by Service added up to more than $31,000. The three transactions took place between August and November 2016.

The Brookville victim’s guardian, his brother, was contacted in July by the ISP Special Investigations Service, Organized Crime and Corruption Unit. He told investigators none of the three transactions were authorized by him or his brother.

Service has yet to be brought to jail in Franklin County. A judge has fixed his bail at $10,000.
Service is also facing charges in Delaware County.

Full Article & Source:
ISP: Attorney Stole More Than $100K From Special Needs Trust

Adelaide lawyer accused of stealing $850,000 as part of deceased estates 'sham'

Stephen McNamara

An Adelaide lawyer has gone on trial in the District Court accused of stealing $850,000 from deceased estates and fabricating documents to cover his tracks.

Stephen McNamara, 63, who ran a law firm called Commercial and General Law, was arrested in February 2015 after police raided his law firm and seized computers and documents.

He was charged with 17 counts of theft — alleged to have happened between November 2011 and July 2013 — and 16 counts of using fabricated evidence.

In his opening address, prosecutor James Slocombe told the court Mr McNamara was approached by the executor of two deceased estates and the funds were transferred to the law firm's trust account.

"On the prosecution's case Mr McNamara abused the trust that was placed in him and instead of honestly and diligently holding onto the estate funds as he was suppose to do, he took the money to use for his own purposes," he said.

"He used a well-sophisticated and dishonest system involving sham investments to companies to make it look like the money was being carefully invested for the benefit of the two estates."

"What the accused was really doing was not investing the money, it was all a sham."

It is alleged Mr McNamara was moving the money out of bogus investment accounts and into a number of other bank accounts which he used to pay for personal expenses including mortgage repayments.

The court heard when the beneficiaries of one of the deceased estates became fed up with Mr McNamara's "excuses and delay tactics" about why they had not received their share of the will, they made a complaint to the Law Society of South Australia.

"They weren't receiving their entitlement because Mr McNamara had used it all, the money was gone," Mr Slocombe said.

"What they did receive was a run-around, excuse after excuse, delay after delay."

The court heard the Law Society appointed a temporary supervisor to Mr McNamara's law firm while they investigated his practice.

As a result, Mr McNamara launched legal proceedings in the Supreme Court against the Law Society, challenging its decision.

On the prosecution's case, Mr McNamara then fabricated documents, including investment certificates, to cover his tracks and make it look like the estate funds had been properly invested.

"Those bogus documents were designed to hide the true nature of what happened to the estate funds and they were in effect an attempt to seemingly legitimise what were really sham investments," Mr Slocombe said.

It is further alleged that he enlisted the help of his associate, Philip John Pitman, 53, who stands co-accused in the trial of one count of using fabricated evidence.

Craig Caldicott, who is representing Mr McNamara, said that the court would hear evidence about how funds placed into a lawyer's trust account do not earn interest.

"If monies are to remain in a trust account for a long period of time, there can be an obligation of lawyers to invest that money out of the trust account into an investment body whereby interest can be earnt," he said.

The trial before Judge Paul Muscat and a jury is expected to run for two weeks.

Full Article & Source:
Adelaide lawyer accused of stealing $850,000 as part of deceased estates 'sham'

The Case Against Katherine Kealoha Just Keeps Getting Worse

When the FBI arrested deputy prosecuting attorney Katherine Kealoha last month, one of the more troubling allegations was that Kealoha stole almost $150,000 from two children for whom she was serving as guardian and trustee.

Now allegations about the way Kealoha handled the trust of Ransen and Ariana Taito have gotten worse.

In documents filed Friday, the federal government says that Kealoha not only took the money, but also leaned on a witness in the guardianship case to help her cover it up.

An FBI report says Katherine Kealoha, a Honolulu deputy prosecuting 

attorney, asked a potential witness to call her if he was subpoenaed by

a grand jury investigating Kealoha.

The Taitos’ attorney declined to discuss the newly filed documents, but said the Taitos would have had nothing to gain by helping cover up the wrongdoing.  Their only motive, he said, would have been to help Kealoha, who had been their guardian when they were children — after their father had died and during a time when their mother was often absent.

“There’s always concerns about whether they committed perjury before the grand jury,” said Michael Green, a well-known criminal defense attorney now representing the Taitos.

“If they did, they certainly didn’t benefit from it, if someone took their money,” Green said.

So, he asked, “Why did they do that? Who would have asked them to do that?”

One person who might have benefited, he said, was Kealoha.

And, he said, “She was basically all they had.”

Honolulu attorney Michael Green said his clients, Ransen and Ariana

Taito, would have had nothing to gain personally by lying to a grand jury.

Kealoha, and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, have pleaded not guilty to all of the federal charges filed against them.

Her attorneys, Myles Breiner and Kevin Sumida, did not return calls for comment. However, Sumida has denied Kealoha took money from the Taitos and has said the Taitos testified to that under oath.
“The allegations in the indictment concerning the guardianship matter are shockingly inaccurate,” he told KHON’s “Always Investigating” last month.

Sumida repeated the assertion in a motion filed Tuesday, writing, “as the grand jury transcripts will undoubtedly confirm, both of the then-minor children, who are now adults, testified that they did in fact receive their funds, that they signed receipts for the funds, and that bank records will confirm receipt of such funds.”

Sumida also took aim at allegations in the indictment that said Kealoha bilked her uncle and grandmother, Gerard and Florence Puana, out of tens of thousands of dollars as part of a reverse mortgage and investment scheme. He said the accusations were already found to be untrue when a civil jury sided with Kealoha in a lawsuit filed against her by the Puanas.

He said, “the jury was so disgusted with the claims made against Katherine Kealoha that they had no difficulty awarding her over $600,000 in damages, including over $200,000 in punitive damages against the uncle.”

Sumida added that while Kealoha didn’t seek punitive damages against her grandmother, who is now 98, the elder Puana lost on every claim and was ordered to pay $80,448 in Kealoha’s attorney’s fees. The Puanas are appealing the decision.

But Sumida’s motion did not directly address the FBI report contained in the government’s motion filed this week concerning the guardianship case.

At the time he testified, Ransen was represented by Jacob Delaplane, a former deputy prosecuting attorney who worked with Kealoha in the career criminal division of the prosecutor’s office.

At the center of the new allegation is a document that Kealoha filed in the Taitos’ state guardianship case, which appears to clear her of stealing money from Ransen Taito. The document appears to be a statement, filed by Kealoha, in which Ransen approved a final accounting saying Ransen had gotten about $84,000 from his trust account after he turned 18. The final accounting also was filed by Kealoha.

Federal prosecutors now say the approval document was forged.

An FBI report filed as an exhibit on Friday describes an interview between the FBI and someone described as “Witness 1.” According to the report, Witness 1 told agents during an April 2017 interview that Kealoha called him for a private meeting in June 2016 during which she showed him the approval statement with his forged signature.

The government’s version of the document has redacted the names of two apparent witnesses, which appear in an unredacted version of the document filed in the state guardianship case: Bradley Ito and Elson Honda. They could not be reached for comment and it’s unclear exactly what their relationship is to Taito or Kealoha but they are on the document as witnesses.

According to the report, Kealoha told Witness 1 — apparently Ito or Honda — she didn’t know how his signature had gotten on the document or who had signed it. Kealoha told Witness 1 that if he received a subpoena to testify before the grand jury he should contact her and she would provide an attorney.

According to the FBI report, Witness 1 saw Kealoha’s comment as self-serving. The report quotes Witness 1 as saying he “felt that he has always been a good friend to KEALOHA, but she doesn’t always reciprocate” and that “she only answers (his) calls when it is convenient for her or when she wants something from him.”

Witness 1 did not tell Kealoha when he received the subpoena, the FBI report says.

It’s not clear what relationship Kealoha had with the Taitos before she became their guardian in 2004.

The Taitos’ maternal grandmother, Marlene Drew, said in an interview that she wasn’t aware of a connection, although Ransen and Ariana lived with her. She added that she was often kept “in the dark” about her grandchildren’s affairs.

What is clear is that Kealoha has been in the Taitos’ lives for years, at least since Ransen was 12 years old and Ariana 10. At that time, the Taitos had come into about $167,000 from a medical malpractice claim their father, Pakini, had brought against Kaiser hospital. Paikini and his wife, Lauren, were estranged and Pakini was sick with cancer, Drew told Civil Beat in a previous interview.

Kealoha, who had worked on the malpractice matter as a private attorney, was appointed guardian by a state circuit court in Honolulu. The court ordered the money to be put into trust accounts for Ransen and Ariana. The court also ordered the trust account to require signatures from Kealoha and her co-counsel, Jim Bickerton, in order to withdraw funds.

Federal prosecutors say this document, which appears to clear Katherine

Kealoha of misappropriating money from a trust fund, includes a forged 

signature.

But the federal government alleges Kealoha didn’t do that. According to the federal indictment, she and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, used the funds as their own.

Specifically, the indictment alleges the Kealohas used the trust accounts as collateral for approximately $1.2 million in loans, including about $105,000 in personal loans and a $1.1 million home refinancing.

It also says they misappropriated almost $150,000 from the accounts.

Ransen declined to comment, saying he and Ariana have a good lawyer and “I don’t want to jeopardize anything.” Ariana did not respond to an interview request.

Full Article & Source:
The Case Against Katherine Kealoha Just Keeps Getting Worse

Lawyer accused of stealing from special-needs trusts

Kenneth S. Service

An Indianapolis lawyer suspended after police say he stole more than $85,000 from two Lawrence County residents’ special-needs trusts faces a second attorney discipline complaint, and that may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Indiana State Police Detective Stacy Brown said in an interview that authorities are investigating the possibility of “numerous victims in multiple states” involving Kenneth S. Service. Brown said he’s been made aware of as many as 17 potential cases where money may be missing from special-needs trusts Service opened in Indiana, Florida and West Virginia, but there may be even more.

Brown said the Service case grew too large in scope for a single detective and was referred to ISP’s Special Investigation Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mary F. Higdon, a Bloomington defense attorney representing Service in his Lawrence County criminal case, said the FBI informed her it declined to take the case, and that her client intends to defend himself.

“Mr. Service believes he never violated the Trust Code,” Higdon said. “He believes he was fully compliant with the Trust Code. That’s our defense.”

Higdon declined to answer questions about whether money was missing from the Lawrence County trusts but said Service had not made any reimbursement to the trusts of the funds police say he stole.

“Just because there are so many allegations out there doesn’t mean he’s guilty of anything,” Higdon said. “I don’t think there should be a rush to judgment as far as his guilt whatsoever.”

Service could not be reached for comment. The telephone number listed for him on the Indiana Roll of Attorneys played a recording saying the number was no longer accepting calls.

Investigators and attorneys who’ve intervened in multiple cases to remove Service from trusts he established and administered say the total amount missing is likely to run to at least several hundred thousand dollars.

The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Service from the practice of law in June for failure to cooperate with a Disciplinary Commission investigation launched in March, three months after he was charged in Lawrence County with Level 5 felony theft.

Brown wrote in a probable cause affidavit that Service stole from the accounts of two people in the Bedford area whose special-needs trusts the lawyer established and administered. “The two Lawrence County victims have suffered a combined loss of over $85,522.29,” the affidavit says. The charging information claims Service used money from clients’ special-needs trusts to pay for personal expenses from casino trips to his dry cleaning.

‘Devastating’

After Service’s first discipline matter was filed after he was charged in the two Lawrence County cases, court records show attorneys intervened to remove him from cases around Indiana where he had established special-needs trusts and designated himself trustee. In many of those cases, his removal appears to have come after the financial damage was done.

“It was devastating,” Brown said of the impact Service’s action had on his clients. The detective noted one victim was a mother with terminal cancer. She was counting on money in a special-needs trust Service opened to be a nest egg to provide care after she dies for a child with significant disabilities.

“Unfortunately, she thought she had six figures in an account, and it had nothing,” Brown said.

In some cases, Brown was breaking the news to Service’s victims that their money was missing — including this mother. “To hear her scream and cry, it’s terrible,” he said. “When I talked to the victims, that was the worst part of the case.”

Fort Wayne attorney Kristin Bilinski was called upon to intervene in five cases where Service was supposed to establish special-needs trusts for clients who received settlements in personal injury cases. She said the clients were either disabled from birth or as a result of an accident or injury.

“I would say well over $200,000 is missing so far,” Bilinski said of the five cases where she appeared and removed Service as trustee. She said clients in those cases are spread across northern Indiana — in Allen, LaPorte, St. Joseph and Wabash counties.

The clients had been referred to Service by law firms that won settlements for them. Court records show that when Service established special-needs trusts for clients, he typically also appointed himself trustee. Special-needs trusts serve two purposes: the money can be used to pay for the injured person’s short-term or long-term care and other needs, and they preserve the disabled person’s ability to continue to qualify for Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income benefits from Social Security.

Bilinski said there’s nothing inherently wrong with attorneys serving as trustees, but it’s becoming less common because of potential liability. She said some legal malpractice insurance carriers no longer even cover lawyers who serve as a trustee for clients.

When Bilinski began seeing money missing from these trusts, she said her reaction was, “honestly, just dismay. Because these people, first of all, had obviously had a terrible accident to have received a settlement, and they’re living with some kind of disability. … For this to come along and delay or completely hinder access to money that’s rightfully theirs, it’s just horrible. I don’t know what else to say.”

Bilinski is hopeful some of the money might be recoverable. She said she’s preparing applications to the Indiana State Bar Association for possible relief from the Clients’ Financial Assistance Fund that serves victims of attorney theft. However, she said that fund’s limited resources can’t possibly make her clients whole without other recovery of the missing money.

“The fact that we can’t find the funds and can’t get any information about them is very concerning,” she said. “In some cases, the trust account wasn’t even set up.”

‘Knew something was wrong’

Marion attorney Josef D. Musser intervened in a case where Service had established a special-needs trust for a man disabled since childhood. He’d been cared for by his mother until she died, and a prior guardianship had been established to provide for his care.

Service established the trust for the man with the settlement proceeds the client received after he was injured in a crash while a passenger in a van. Musser said when the guardian submitted requests for reimbursement from the trust Service set up to repay the guardian’s legitimate out-of-pocket expenses, red flags started going up.

Service “continued to delay, delay, delay on paying those,” Musser said. “I knew something was wrong there with his operation, and he would continue to tell me the delay was caused by the fact he didn’t have staff hired and was overwhelmed with his workload. … He didn’t pay and kind of changed his reasons why he didn’t pay, and he wouldn’t respond to phone calls and communications. We got very concerned.”

Musser said the guardian ultimately was reimbursed, and the client in this case suffered no financial harm. Another attorney intervened in this case and removed Service as trustee in March, after the first attorney discipline case began.

“I’m just glad we weren’t one of the clients that actually lost money,” Musser said.

‘Stop talking to the bank’

Brown, who investigated the Lawrence County thefts, alleged Service wrote checks for cash to himself from his clients’ special-needs trust accounts. In at least one of those cases, he also had a debit card for the special-needs trust account that the client in Bedford told police he didn’t know about.

That client also told police that Service had refused the client’s multiple requests to access money from his trust to make needed repairs to his home and to buy a car. Brown wrote that after the client was contacted by his bank about money missing from his trust account, the client “called (Service) who informed him that he would be down to Bloomington to buy him a new car if he would stop talking to the bank employees.”

The Bedford client said Service made good on the promise and wrote a check for a new Toyota, but the check didn’t come from the client’s trust account. Similarly, the charge against Service alleges he used the Bedford client’s trust account to pay for a root canal and crown procedure for client in another county who had a special-needs trust Service managed.

“I feel that Mr. Service is using other trust funds in his control to pay for expenses on other trust funds and then claiming he is using his own money,” the detective wrote in the probable cause affidavit. “Mr. Service will then withdraw funds from the trust fund that he claims is owed repayment … and keep the money for his personal use.”

Service used money he took from the Lawrence County trusts to pay for a stay and room service at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, and to pay for at least 35 nights’ stays at an Indianapolis Marriott hotel from March 1-April 10, 2016, the charging document alleges.

One of the Lawrence County cases involved a woman for whom Service opened a special-needs trust in June 2015. The woman died that November, and her sister was tasked with closing the woman’s estate. Brown wrote that he asked the sister if she knew “any reason (Service) would make repeated trip(s) to the teller window at PNC Bank and withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from the trust fund” in late 2015 and early 2016. Brown said the sister replied, “there would be no reason at all for that to have been done.”

Authorities allege Service stole more than $43,000 from that victim’s account.

“It’s scary to think how many more might be out there that you don’t know about,” Brown said.

Full Article & Source:
Lawyer accused of stealing from special-needs trusts

Las Vegas lawyer accused of stealing millions from clients arrested

By JEFF GERMAN and DAVID FERRARA
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Embattled probate lawyer Robert Graham was arrested Wednesday after being indicted by a Clark County grand jury in connection with the theft of $2.1 million from clients.

He faces three felony counts each of theft and exploitation of an older/vulnerable person, and two gross misdemeanor counts of destroying evidence.

Chief Deputy District Attorney J.P. Raman said in court Wednesday that Graham may have stolen more than $15 million from his clients.

Records show that Graham was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on $5 million bail.

 

District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a news release that the investigation is ongoing and he expects to file more charges.

“We felt it was necessary to quickly seek an indictment on this case to ensure that evidence was preserved and that Mr. Graham was unable to cause any further financial damage to families in our community,” Wolfson said. ”Attorneys are held to a high ethical standard, which evokes a certain level of trust from their clients, and the violation of that trust is unacceptable.”

The State Bar of Nevada filed a complaint against Graham last month alleging that he stole millions of dollars from dozens of clients before abruptly closing his Lawyers West office in Summerlin on Dec. 2.

Las Vegas police and the FBI have been jointly investigating the disappearance of the funds.

The indictment alleges Graham stole $2.1 million from clients in three of his cases between July 9, 2013, and Dec. 2, 2016. Two of the cases involved elderly victims and one involved a “vulnerable” victim, according to the indictment.

“But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Raman said. “There will be many, many more victims and much more monetary theft.”

While Graham shuttered his firm, he logged into a corporate “Dropbox” account and deleted nearly 3,000 files that related to clients, wire transfers and operations, according to the prosecutor.
“He’s facing extremely serious criminal charges — not only what we have on him today, but what we’ll be bringing in the future,” Raman said. “He will obviously be facing significant punishment when he answers to the full scope of the crimes committed.”

Deputy Public Defender Bryan Cox, representing Graham in the criminal case, said late Wednesday that he has had “ongoing dialogue” with prosecutors and provided them with documents.

 

Asked about deleted files, Cox said, “We strongly disagree with, and we deny that allegation.” He added that Graham may have moved files to a hard drive “for preservation.”

“It’s our contention that no files have been deleted or erased,” Cox said.

The defense attorney also said he planned to address Graham’s custody status at a future court hearing, though no date has been set.

“We don’t believe he’s a flight risk,” Cox said.

The indictment alleges that Graham stole $1.1 million from the estate of Michael Macknin, $595,596 from the estate of Lois Lee and $471,585 from the special needs trust of Thane Parton.

One of the Macknin family lawyers, Joseph Kistler, hailed the district attorney’s pursuit of the indictment.

“Mr. Wolfson is an honorable, ethical attorney who undoubtedly shares the community’s dismay caused by these events,” Kistler said in an email. “My client joins with the other former clients of Lawyers West and Robert Graham, LTD in trusting that justice will be done for themselves and the State of Nevada.”

Kistler has been waging a separate fight in Clark County District Court to obtain the $1.1 million Graham had held for the Macknin estate.

The estate is among several former clients who joined forces to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Graham’s law practice last month to recover their missing money.

Graham, a prominent figure in the probate legal community before his temporary suspension in December, operated his law practice under three separate entities, including Lawyers West. He also once maintained offices in Utah and Colorado.

Just days after shutting down his office, Graham turned over possession of a $1 million home in Fort Collins, Colorado, to his wife.

Records show that Linda Graham filed for bankruptcy in Colorado on Dec. 31.

She estimated in the bankruptcy petition that her assets were worth $1 million to $10 million, but that her financial liabilities were between $10 million and $50 million.

Among her listed potential creditors are many of her husband’s former clients.

Linda Graham, who also is a lawyer, said in the petition she is now suing him for divorce in Colorado.

She also said there is a $713,146 mortgage on the home and that she owes the IRS $111,727.
The Grahams bought the 4,247-square-foot home together in Colorado in July 2014 for $955,000, records in that state show. But on Dec. 5, amid allegations that his clients’ money was missing, Graham filed a new deed turning over the home to his wife.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month, Graham described his law practice as a 20-year business failure. He declined, however, to explain what had happened to the missing funds.

Full Article & Source:
Las Vegas lawyer accused of stealing millions from clients arrested