Northern NJ Attorney Charged w/ Misleading Client Of Lien Status On Real Estate Purchase Encumbered By Three Mortgages, Misusing Cash In Trust Account

In Bergen County, New Jersey, The Record reports:

• An Englewood attorney has been charged with theft and forgery, accused of misrepresenting the legal status of a development property in which he allegedly encouraged a client to invest $245,000, authorities said []. Gordon Allen Washington, 50, was served with a complaint [] charging him with forgery, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition. He was released on his own recognizance.

• Washington, who goes by his middle name, encouraged a Bergenfield woman to invest $245,000 in a Jersey City redevelopment project [...] in Jersey City in 2006, said John L. Molinelli, the Bergen County prosecutor. Molinelli said Washington knowingly misinformed the client, Shirley McDougald, telling her in writing that the property was “unencumbered” when in fact there were three existing mortgages on it. Washington also is accused of misusing more than $45,000 of McDougald’s money, which he was holding in an attorney trust account.

For the story, see Englewood attorney charged with theft, forgery.