Now-Disbarred Lawyer Cops Plea To $4.5M Swindle Of Elderly Clients' Trust Funds; 97-Year Old Victim Out $1M, Left Unable To Pay Ass't Living Expenses

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Atlanta, Georgia):

• M. DEWEY BAIN, 59, of Cumming, Georgia, pleaded guilty [] in federal district court to defrauding his clients of over $4.5 million in trust funds that he had misrepresented were in investments earning good returns. United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the case, “This defendant, an attorney formerly licensed in Georgia and Texas, entered into trust agreements with elderly victims, told them that he was placing their money in safe investments, and then lost it all after diverting it to his own personal and business use. His egregious abuse of trust defrauded clients out of more than $4.5 million in retirement savings and inheritance money.”

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• Under one of the trust agreements, BAIN originally invested the money of a 97-year-old client in certificates of deposit and paid her personal expenses out of the trust. He later liquidated the certificates based on false pretenses and moved the money to a bank account in his name. He then used the money in his business, even though she had specifically refused to permit such an investment because it was too risky. He also wrote checks off of her credit card account without her authorization. As a result of BAIN’s fraud, this victim lost nearly $1 million and was no longer able to pay for her assisted living residence. BAIN was disbarred in Georgia in October 2009.(1)

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Disbarred Attorney Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Elderly Clients (Defendant Diverted Over $4.5 Million of Clients’ Trust Money For His Own Use).

(1) If a Georgia attorney, either in the course of representing you or acting as a fiduciary, screws you out of money or property through dishonest conduct, go to the State Bar of Georgia Clients' Security Fund for information on how to recover some or all of your losses from the fund.

For other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.