Sunday, October 16, 2016

Recently-Announced List Of Disciplined Attorneys Include 15 Lawyers For Playing Fast & Loose With Entrusted Money &/Or Recordkeeping Violations Related To Client Money

The Illinois State Bar Association recently announced that the state Supreme Court disbarred 13 attorneys, suspended 16 others in a latest disciplinary filing.

The following seven lawyers were disbarred for, among other things in some cases, playing fast and loose with their clients' money:
  • Bradley F. Aubel, Libertyville
    Mr. Aubel, who was licensed in 1997, was disbarred. He was convicted in federal court of obstruction of justice after he converted client credit cards to his own use. In addition, he was convicted of filing a false income tax return when he materially understated his law business’s gross receipts. He was suspended on an interim basis on January 3, 2013.

    Dwight Lenore Beck, Ford Heights
    Mr. Beck, who was licensed in 1985, was disbarred. He converted $1,800 in client settlement funds, failed to maintain complete records of his trust account, and was convicted on two separate occasions of driving an automobile on a suspended license. He failed to appear at his disciplinary hearing.

    Robert Christopher Beck, Wheaton
    Mr. Beck, who was licensed in 1995, was disbarred. He intentionally misappropriated funds in excess of $700,000 from two elderly clients, one of whom suffered from dementia, and an additional $189,500 from the estate of a third client following that client’s death.

    Reid D. Henderson, Washington D.C.
    Mr. Henderson was licensed in Illinois in 2005 and in the District of Columbia in 2007. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals disbarred him after he neglected six client matters, failed to keep those clients reasonably informed about the status of their cases and engaged in dishonesty when he made false statements to clients and misappropriated fees paid in advance. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him.

    Ronald L. McPheron, Chicago
    Mr. McPheron, who was licensed in 1993, was disbarred. He settled a client’s personal injury case without her authority and then intentionally misappropriated $11,737 in settlement funds he had received on her behalf. He also fabricated settlement documents to conceal actions and did not cooperate with the ARDC investigation into the matter.

    Frank Anthony Santilli, Chicago
    Mr. Santilli, who was licensed in 1989, was disbarred on consent. He knowingly misappropriated over $500,000 in client settlement funds and signed a medical lienholder’s signature to three settlement checks without authority. He was suspended on an interim basis on June 1, 2016.

    David Joel Silberman, Mequon, Wis.
    Mr. Silberman, who was licensed in 1973, was disbarred. While operating a title insurance company in Wisconsin, he transferred more than $460,000 from the company’s escrow accounts to its operating accounts, and used more than $180,000 of that money, which had been supplied by mortgage lenders and real estate purchasers planning to buy properties, to fund the title company’s operations.
In addition, the following eight attorneys had their licenses suspended for varying periods of time for either playing fast and loose with money belonging to their clients and/or others, or, in one case, failing to promptly provide a client with an accounting for the assets in an estate upon request:
  • Edward Christopher Abderholden, Chicago
    Mr. Abderholden, who was licensed in 1977, was suspended for six months and until further order of the Court, with the suspension fully stayed by a two-year period of conditional probation. He converted $2,666.50 in client funds and also failed to timely pay medical providers on behalf of that same client when he allowed checks payable to certain medical providers to become stale.

    Robert Allan Holstein, Chicago
    Mr. Holstein, who was licensed in 1962, was suspended for eighteen months. He knowingly used at least $20,000 in fees that were the subject of a citation to discover assets in order to pay personal expenses. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2016.

    Larry S. Mayster, Chicago
    Mr. Mayster, who was licensed in 1955, was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed after thirty days by a six-month period of conditional probation. He mismanaged approximately $800 in settlement proceeds belonging to third-party lien holders while handling a personal injury matter and failed to maintain complete records for his client trust account. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2016.

    Vincent J. O'Brien, Chicago
    Mr. O’Brien, who was licensed in 1987, was suspended for nine months, with the suspension stayed after four months by a twelve-month period of conditional probation. He did not diligently pursue two personal injury matters and a pending estate matter and he did not inform his clients of, or respond to their requests for information about, the status of their cases. Also, in one of the personal injury matters, he misrepresented the actual status of the case to the client and, in the estate matter, he did not provide his client with an accounting for more than four months after the client’s request. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2016.

    Douglas Alan Shenk, Northbrook
    Mr. Shenk, who was licensed in 1976, was suspended for thirty days and required to complete the ARDC professionalism seminar. He converted $3,210.35 of client and third party funds by using them for his own business or personal purposes. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2016.

    James E. Taylor, Chicago
    Mr. Taylor, who was licensed in 1992, was suspended for one year, with the suspension stayed after sixty days by a two-year period of conditional probation. He did not diligently represent four different clients in a variety of legal matters, failed respond to client requests for information, and did not timely refund unearned legal fees. He also did not deposit the advance payments of legal fees provided by those clients into a client trust account. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2016.

    Francis Joseph Coyle, Jr., Rock Island
    Mr. Coyle, who was licensed in 1974, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. An ARDC hearing panel earlier found that he had misappropriated $100,000 in escrow funds and made intentional misrepresentations to another attorney about the status of those funds. The panel recommended that he be disbarred.

    Richard Carl Moenning, Chicago
    Mr. Moenning, who was licensed in 1962, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. An ARDC hearing panel earlier found that he had engaged in multiple acts of misconduct in connection with his role as attorney for, and trustee of, two trusts, as well as in his role as attorney in two separate probate matters. The panel found that he had intentionally taken an excessive amount of fees and recommended that he be disbarred.
Source: Illinois Supreme Court disbars 13, suspends 16 in latest disciplinary filing.

Editor's Note: The Client Protection Program of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) was established by the Supreme Court of Illinois to provide reimbursement to clients who have lost money or property because of dishonest conduct by lawyers admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois. The Program reimburses clients who cannot get reimbursement from the lawyers who caused their losses, or from other sources such as insurance. (But see Stolen Inheritances: I-Team lawyer warning, in which one Illinois victim said of the program, "Their rules are vague, ambiguous and they are applied at their own discretion, and you can't get a straight answer[.]")

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that sometimes help cover the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:
Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:06 AM