Illinois Disciplinary Review Board Recommends 1-Year Minimum License Suspension For Previously-Disciplined Rogue Lawyer For Buying Clients' Home Out From Under Them At Foreclosure Sale, Leaving Victims w/ $25K Deficiency Judgment; Panel: Attorney "Neither Understands Nor Accepts The Need To Comply w/ The Ethical Rules Of The Legal Profession"

In Springfield, Illinois, The State Journal-Register reports:

• A panel that hears disciplinary allegations of Illinois attorneys has recommended that a Jacksonville lawyer’s license be suspended for one year and until further order of the state Supreme Court.
  
  In a complaint filed June 9, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission alleged that G. Ronald Kesinger of Jacksonville, who was licensed to practice law in 1973, had a conflict of interest when he bought his clients’ home at a foreclosure sale in 2012.
  
  His purchase of their home subjected his clients to a $25,000 deficiency judgment in the foreclosure case.
  
  A previous ARDC complaint filed in July 2014 and amended in February alleged that Kesinger improperly obtained a loan from a client and made a false application for a bank loan in 2012.
  
  A three-person hearing board found that the ARDC proved all of the charges of misconduct and recommended Thursday that Kesinger’s license be suspended for a year, after which he will have to apply to the state Supreme Court for reinstatement.
  
  Kesinger’s law license was suspended for six months in 2013 because the court found he revealed confidential information told to him by a client in a shooting case that resulted in the client being convicted of felony murder.
  
  He also attempted to obtain a larger fee from another client and then converted $4,000 of the client’s bond refund.
  
  Kesinger, 76, also was censured by the high court as a result of a 1999 complaint.
  
  In its report on the current cases, the hearing board said that based on the evidence, including Kesinger’s own testimony, it found that Kesinger “neither understands nor accepts the need to comply with the ethical rules of the legal profession.”
  
  “He simply has not gotten the message, by being previously disciplined, that his misconduct will not be tolerated,” the report said.
  
  Kesinger may appeal the findings and recommendation to a review board. Any discipline imposed must come from the Illinois Supreme Court, which makes the final decision in such matters.

Source: Panel recommends suspending Jacksonville attorney's license.