Warrants issued for couple guilty in guardian fraud case

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A federal judge issued bench warrants Monday for the former president of a now-defunct nonprofit that provided guardianship services for vulnerable and special needs clients and her husband after they both failed to appear for sentencing for money laundering and other crimes.

Susan Harris, 73, was facing a minimum of 30 years in prison while her husband, William Harris, faced seven years for crimes related to the embezzlement of an estimated $10 million.

As one of New Mexico’s largest guardianship firms, Ayudando Guardians Inc., was shuttered by federal authorities in 2017 after the embezzlement was exposed. Some of the more than 800 victims who lost money were expected to address the court as the hearing continued Monday.

Defense attorneys told U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez they could not reach the couple by phone Monday when they failed to show up for court.

The couple had been free pending sentencing after surrendering their U.S. passports and putting up their home in an affluent Albuquerque neighborhood as security.

Two other defendants did appear for sentencing. They are former chief financial officer Sharon Moore and Harris’ son Craig Young.

Federal prosecutors say the defendants used client trust, savings and other funds to finance a lavish personal lifestyle that included luxury vacations, and upscale homes and vehicles.

Full Article & Source:
Warrants issued for couple guilty in guardian fraud case

See Also:
Who guards the guardians?: Judge vows to fight for clients who lost trust funds

Guardianship company closed, U.S. Marshals Service says

Lawmaker: Guardian system ‘turned ugly’

Woman gets probation for exploiting elderly Wichita Falls man, bleeding him for cash

Mary Ann Lujan (Photo: Courtesy/Wichita County Jail)

One of two sisters allegedly benefiting from bilking an elderly man out of over $90,000 was sentenced to probation Thursday, according to court records.

Mary Ann Lujan, 62, and Sandy Lujan,  53, have been accused of preying on an 85-year-old man with memory loss and diminished judgement, court documents show.

Mary Lujan pleaded guilty to exploitation of an elderly person Thursday in 89th District Court as part of a plea deal, court documents show.

Judge Charles Barnard sentenced Lujan to 10 years of deferred-adjudication community supervision, according to court records. 

If Mary Lujan successfully completes probation, the case against her could be dismissed. 

The third degree felony is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 

Sandy Lujan faces charges of exploitation of an elderly person and fugitive from justice/failure to appear, according to court records. 

She was free from Wichita County Jail Thursday on $107,753 in bonds, according to online jail records.

An arrest warrant affidavit for Lujan gave the following account: On Aug. 9, 2018, a man reported to police that his father was being financially exploited.

A report was also filed with Adult Protective Services.

The total taken from his bank account was $90,761 between March and August of 2018. The family noticed suspicious expenditures from his account.

The account showed that between March 2018 and Aug. 4, 2018, 31 checks totaling $32,882 had been made out to Mary Lujan.

She had met the elderly man at the casino and stayed in close contact with him. Mary Lujan met him at a Pioneer Restaurant and Sam's Club, taking money and checks from him there.

Detectives met with the elderly man. He appeared to lack clear judgment and was easily confused with the facts of the case. He couldn't recall how much money he had given to the two sisters.

Sandy Lujan (Photo: Courtesy/Wichita County Jail)

The elderly man told detectives he was helping Mary Lujan pay her medical bills and buy medication at $100 per pill.

Detectives asked him about cash withdrawals from his bank account totaling $57,879.74. He said that money was also given to the sisters. 

The elderly man was mentally unaware and unable to recall how much money he had given to Mary Lujan or how often he wrote her checks.

Detectives and APS investigators believe the elderly man suffers from short-term memory loss, confusion and diminished judgment.

On Aug. 21, 2018, detectives and investigators interviewed Mary Lujan at her residence.

She said she knew why they were there and that the elderly man had given and loaned her money.

She appeared deceptive and misleading.

She said the elderly man was giving her money for medical reasons but was unsure if she was cured. She didn't know her doctor's name.

Mary Lujan did not have medications, receipts or billing statements to verify a need for assistance. She refused to allow police to review her medical history.

She said she and her new live-in boyfriend were unemployed.

Detectives believe she was grooming the elderly victim weekly. 

Mary Lujan said she gives some of the money from the cashed checks to her sister, Sandy Lujan.

Mary Lujan told detectives she does not intend to stop her relationship with the elderly man.

A doctor examined the victim and reported him as having diminished mental capacity and cognitive ability.

A detective believed the exploitation would financially ruin the elderly man at the rate it was going. 

Full Article & Source:
Woman gets probation for exploiting elderly Wichita Falls man, bleeding him for cash

No Answer to Grievance Committee Letters on Failure to Appear at Guardianship Proceedings Gets Lawyer Suspended

The First Department appeals panel granted an attorney grievance committee’s motion to suspend the lawyer based on his failure to cooperate with an investigation into professional misconduct allegations against him.

By Jason Grant

Photo:roberthyrons

A New York lawyer has been suspended from practicing law after not answering at least five grievance committee letters regarding a guardianship-related complaint that said he never appeared for court proceedings aimed at discharging him as the guardian for an incapacitated person who had died.

Kavin L. Edwards—who according to Avvo.com practices real estate law, apparently as a solo practitioner—has been suspended pending further court order by an Appellate Division, First Department panel.

The panel, in a unanimous decision, granted the First Department attorney grievance committee’s motion to suspend Edwards based on his failure to cooperate with the committee’s investigation into professional misconduct allegations against him.

Edwards did not submit a response to the grievance committee’s motion, the panel noted.

Attempts to reach Edwards for comment Tuesday were not successful.

Angela Christmas, a First Department grievance committee spokeswoman, also couldn’t be reached.

In reciting facts in the opinion, which it appears were conveyed by the grievance committee, the First Department panel pointed out that the committee has also become aware of “a second guardianship matter in which [Edwards] failed to file a final accounting pursuant to court rules, and he repeatedly failed to appear for scheduled compliance dates.”

In addition, the panel explained, again reciting committee-presented facts, that although Edwards did appear at an August 2018 deposition before the committee, he failed in November and December 2018 to show up for a deposition continuation.

He also has allegedly still not answered the original guardianship complaint made in January 2018 by Bronx Supreme Court guardianship department compliance referee John D’Alessandro, the panel wrote. The panel noted that as of the grievance committee’s January 29, 2019 motion date, the committee still hadn’t heard from Edwards.

D’Alessandro’s complaint kicked off the grievance committee’s 2018 efforts to reach Edwards for answers, the panel’s opinion said.

The panel of Justices John Sweeny, Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Cynthia Kern, Jeffrey Oing and Anil Singh also noted—while again citing the presented facts—that Edwards had been appointed as the guardian for the incapacitated person in June 2015.

In January 2018, D’Alessandro sent the committee a complaint saying the client had passed away, and Edwards “had repeatedly failed to appear in court in connection with proceedings to discharge him as her guardian even though he was notified by letter, telephone and court order,” the panel wrote citing presented facts.

The next month, the committee asked Edwards by letter to respond to the complaint. It used an Office of Court Administration-listed address for him, the panel said, citing the facts.

That first letter was returned as undeliverable, but then the committee discovered a new address for Edwards, on Seventh Avenue, the panel said.

In April and May, the committee sent additional letters and in one advised Edwards “of 22 NYCRR 1240.9(a) and citing precedent that provided for suspension of attorneys who failed to cooperate with the Committee,” the panel wrote, still citing the presented facts.

In July 2018, the committee subpoenaed Edwards for a deposition. He later appeared pro se and was directed again “to provide an answer to D’Alessandro’s complaint and reminded … that, if he was needed to appear for a subsequent examination under oath, the subpoena remained in effect throughout the duration of the case,” the panel also wrote.

In suspending Edwards, the panel wrote that he “has repeatedly failed to submit an answer to the [compliance referee’s] complaint and has not appeared for a continuation of his deposition, even though he was advised of the possible need for a subsequent deposition under this Court’s subpoena.”

“Additionally, he has defaulted on this motion seeking his interim suspension,” the panel continued, adding that “such conduct demonstrates a willful noncompliance with a Committee investigation and warrants his immediate suspension,” citing Matter of Matic, 165 AD3d 45; Matter of Morgado, 159 AD3d 50; Matter of Spencer, 148 AD3d 223; and Matter of Raum, 141 AD3d 198.

Edwards was admitted to the state bar in 2006, the decision noted.

Full Article & Source:
No Answer to Grievance Committee Letters on Failure to Appear at Guardianship Proceedings Gets Lawyer Suspended