Personal injury lawyer is indicted, accused of stealing $600K in client settlements

Posted Dec 15, 2014 03:58 pm CST

By Martha Neil

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A 62-year-old New York City personal injury lawyer has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $600,000 from client settlements in less than six years, the Manhattan district attorney announced Monday.
Stephen Krawitz is charged with a scheme to defraud and grand larceny after allegedly providing no money at all to 16 clients for whom he negotiated settlements and wrongfully withholding money from at least two other clients. The indictment and filed court documents also say there was a shortfall in his attorney trust account, according to a press release from the DA’s office.

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States | Criminal Justice | White Collar Crime | Trials & Litigation | Tort Law | New York

Disbarred lawyer gets 40 years for embezzling $1.2M from child’s guardianship fund

 Editor's note: Why aren't the crooked judges and lawyers in the Probate Court of Cook County who perpetrate the same crime not punished? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com


Disbarred lawyer gets 40 years for embezzling $1.2M from child’s guardianship fund

Posted Sep 5, 2013 11:20 AM CDT
By Martha Neil

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A former Mississippi lawyer has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 10 years suspended, after being found guilty Thursday of embezzling $1.2 million from the guardianship account of a minor child of a deceased civil rights leader.

Related Topics

Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, White Collar Crime, Trials & Litigation, Trusts & Estates

Michael J. Brown placed in the money in his own escrow account, rather than the court-ordered guardianship account, and filed fraudulent paperwork with the Hinds County Chancery Court that showed the money was properly expended on the minor's behalf, the Clarion Ledger reports.

WJTV also has a story about the conviction in the Rankin County case.

The Mississippi Supreme Court disbarred Brown in an opinion (PDF) issued last year.

“There is no greater trust than that between a lawyer and his client,” said District Attorney Michael Guess. “Brown was an officer of the court, whose sole purpose was to protect the interest of the minor child. Brown broke that trust and he trampled on the interest of the child in the name of greed.”

The articles don't include any comment from Brown or his counsel.

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Judge Jails Attorney for Contempt, Says He Must Ante Up and Account for $3M in Guardianship Funds"

Lawyer is disbarred for not telling authorities about employee’s misuse of client credit card

Legal Ethics

Editor’s note: With all the unethical behavior going on in the Probate Court of Cook County, why isn’t the ARDC disbarring a continuous stream of lawyers and judges? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Lawyer is disbarred for not telling authorities about employee’s misuse of client credit card

Posted Mar 4, 2013 1:27 PM CDT
By Martha Neil

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A Georgia attorney has been disbarred following her conviction of misprision of a felony due to an employee's misuse of a guardianship client's funds.
In a brief order (PDF) on Monday, the court noted that Zondra Taylor Hutto had not responded to the disciplinary case and found that disbarment is appropriate. Earlier news articles indicated Hutto intended to consent to disbarment.
Hutto, who is in her early 60s, got into ethical trouble after finding out that a law office employee had used a credit card and a debit card belonging to an elderly client for whom the attorney served as a temporary guardian. Although Hutto fired the worker, she admitted in a 2011 federal plea agreement that she never reported the thefts—which totaled over $19,000—to authorities, according to a Birmingham News article published in 2011 and an FBI press release on which it relies.
A subsequent Associated Press article says Hutto was sentenced to three months and ordered to pay a little over $19,000 in restitution. She was working as a conservator for the Tuscaloosa County probate court at the time of the crime.
Hat tip: Legal Profession Blog.
Related coverage:
Estate of Denial (2012): "Questions surround ex-conservator’s cases"

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Business of Law, Law Practice Management, Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, White Collar Crime, Elder Law, Legal Ethics

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/attorney_who_didnt_tell_police_about_employees_theft_from_client_is_disbarr/

Feds Say DA Got $80K, Judge Got $10K As They Conspired to Obtain Part of Murderer’s $500K Bail Bond

Chicago FBI,  DOJ, AG, IRS...Don't let the Western FEDs get all the publicity and glory.  Dig into the Probate Court of Cook County, 18th Floor, Daley Center.  You have another "Greylord" ready for the picking.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com


White-Collar Crime


Feds Say DA Got $80K, Judge Got $10K As They Conspired to Obtain Part of Murderer’s $500K Bail Bond 

Posted Jul 2, 2012 5:45 PM CDT

By Martha Neil



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 More details are emerging in an ongoing judicial corruption case in federal court in South Texas that federal authorities say involved, in addition to other alleged misconduct by multiple defendants, a conspiracy between a district attorney, a judge and a friendly lawyer representing the children of a murder victim.



The trio are accused in a federal indictment of conspiring together to arrange a criminal conviction of Amit Livingston in the murder case, while simultaneously putting together a settlement in the civil wrongful death case, which was also being overseen by then-District Judge Abel Limas.



Livingston's criminal conviction made it possible to use his $500,000 bond to fund the civil settlement. Meanwhile, the judge allowed him 60 days to get his affairs in order, based simply on his promise that he would return to serve his sentence, according to the San Antonio Express-News.



But Livingston absconded, and five years later has not been found. The indictment contends that a substantial amount of the $200,000 fee from the settlement that went to the friendly attorney representing the victim's children, Eduardo “Eddie” Lucio, was shared with the other two members of the trio: Limas got $10,000, and Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos got $80,000, federal prosecutors say.



Both Lucio and Villalobos have pleaded not guilty, and the DA is arguing that the indictment is too vague to permit him to defend himself against the charges, the Brownsville Herald reports.



Limas earlier took a plea and is awaiting sentencing.



The Associated Press also has a story about the latest allegations.



Earlier coverage:



ABAJournal.com: "DA Gave Me Money, Too, Ex-Judge Testifies at Another Lawyer’s Federal Racketeering Trial"

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Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, White Collar Crime, Judiciary, Legal Ethics, Trials & Litigation, Evidence, 5th Circuit Court


http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/feds_say_da_got_80k_judge_got_10k_as_they_conspired_to_obtain_part_of_murde/

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