NYC Lawyer Disbarred For Continuing To Practice Law, Taking Client Money After Being Earlier Suspended For Allegedly Improperly Playing Around w/ Client Trust Funds

In New York City, The Real Deal (NYC) reports:

• Luigi Rosabianca, a real estate attorney who once bragged that his clients sometimes “come in with suitcases,” was disbarred from practicing law on Tuesday after a court found he violated the terms of his suspension.
  
  Rosabianca’s law license was suspended in March when the New York Appellate Division First Department found evidence that he had mishandled client funds on multiple occasions and failed to follow proper protocols in taking out a $1.8 million personal mortgage.
  
  On Tuesday, the court found that Rosabianca continued to represent clients and accept payments in the weeks following his March 12 suspension. As late as April 29, he was still falsely representing himself as a licensed New York attorney on his web page.
  
  “The [Departmental Disciplinary Committee’s] motion to disbar respondent without further proceedings is granted based upon the uncontroverted evidence that respondent has continued to practice law in violation of this Court’s prior suspension order,” wrote Justice Peter Tom, on behalf of a unanimous panel.
  
  Tuesday’s order also appointed a receiver to oversee Rosabiana’s attorney trust account, in light of evidence that he made improper transfers, including transferring $1.5 million in client funds to “what was believed to be an Italian banking or investment firm.”

For the story, see Real estate lawyer Luigi Rosabianca disbarred (Attorney who specialized in foreign buyers was found to have mishandled client funds).

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(1) Clients found to have been victimized by any alleged trust fund theft may be able to seek some reimbursement for being screwed over by turning to the The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York, which manages and distribute money collected from annual dues paid by members of the state bar to members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by the dishonest conduct of a member of the bar acting as an attorney or a fiduciary.

See generally:

• N.Y. fund for cheated clients wants thieving lawyers disbarred, a July, 2015 Associated Press story on this Fund reporting that the Fund's executive director, among other things, is calling for prompt referral to the local district attorney when the disciplinary committee has uncontested evidence of theft by a lawyer injuring a client or an admission of culpability;
  
  Thieving Lawyers Draining Client Security Funds, a December, 1991 New York Times story that gives some-real life examples of how client security funds deal with claims and the pressures the administrators of those funds may feel when left insufficiently financed as a result of the misconduct of a handful of lawyer/scoundrels.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that attempt to clean up the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes a listing for Canadian client protection funds, 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.