Disbarred Florida Attorney Gets 14 Years For Pocketing $1.7M+ From Escrow Accounts Involving Clients' Real Estate Transactions

In Pinellas County, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• Richard Da Fonte, the disbarred Clearwater lawyer accused of stealing more than $1.7 million from clients, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and 15 years' probation.(1)

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• [His lawyer, Larry] Sandefer said his client had hoped to pay back his victims from the sale of his business, real estate and life insurance. The business, though, which Da Fonte sold to a former associate, is tied up in a legal dispute. Foreclosure is pending on his office condominium, and his home is in foreclosure, Sandefer said. His $3 million life insurance has lapsed.

For more, see Disbarred lawyer Richard Da Fonte gets 14 years for stealing from clients.

Go here, Go here, Go here, and Go here for other stories of trust account / escrow account theft of funds.

(1) The story describes some of Da Fonte's victimized clients as follows:

• Shakawat Hossain of St. Petersburg hired Da Fonte in 2003. He said the lawyer stole about $235,000, money he planned to use to buy a gas station and convenience store;
• Pinellas Park resident Sharon Dore and her family lost $110,000 when they hired Da Fonte to handle the sale of her late mother's St. Petersburg home. The money was supposed to go to Dore, her daughter and a brother;
• Joan Kelly, a widow, paid for her Seminole home in full in April 2007. That summer, while she was in Cape Cod, she began getting calls from lawyers offering help with a problem. It was foreclosure. Da Fonte had taken almost $200,000 meant to pay her home's previous owners;
• Winnie Yang of Clearwater couldn't wait to have her say during the lengthy hearing. The lawyer stole $400,000 from her brother-in-law Kenneth Yang, who lives in Texas. The money was from a real estate transaction involving Yang, her husband and her brother-in-law. EscrowRipOffAlpha

Florida Lawyer Disbarred For Screwing Clients Out Of Cash In Real Estate Transactions Now Facing Felony Charge

In Clearwater, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• A local lawyer who was disbarred last year has been charged with stealing $400,000 from a client weeks after he lost his license to practice law. Richard Joseph Da Fonte, 50, of Clearwater was charged this month with withholding the money from Kenneth Yang of Texas, one of three people Da Fonte represented in a real estate transaction in late October.

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• The transaction involving [Yang] took place about two weeks after Da Fonte lost his license to practice law. In mid October, the Florida Supreme Court approved a consent agreement in which Da Fonte agreed to be disbarred over his involvement in two [other] real estate transactions where money went missing.

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• And there is another case where a former client says he has been unable to get money that he gave Da Fonte to hold in trust for him. Shakawat Hossain, 46, of St. Petersburg said he had planned to use money he got from the sale of his business, a store he built up by working 18-hour days, to buy a gas station and convenience store. But Hossain said that plan has fallen apart because he can't get more than $250,000 from Da Fonte. That's about half the sum he said he gave the lawyer to hold in trust.

For more, including the details on the screwing over Da Fonte gave to his trusting clients, see Lawyer faces theft charge (The man was disbarred last year. Now he's accused of stealing $400,000 from a client).

For the earlier St. Pete Times story on Da Fonte's disbarment, see Lawyer disbarred, two others are disciplined (Diverted mortgage funds led to the disbarment).

See Theft Of Escrow Funds I and Theft Of Escrow Funds II for other stories of trust account / escrow account theft of funds.

If a Florida attorney is representing you and screws you out of money or property through dishonest conduct, go to The Florida Bar's Clients' Security Fund for more information. For other states, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (American Bar Association - February, 2008);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map, or
• try this "Google" search.
  sneaky slick escrow agents beta

Judge Refuses To Reduce 14-Year Sentence For Disbarred Attorney Guilty Of Looting $1.7M+ In Clients' Escrow Funds; Laments Inability To Increase Term

In Central Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• Disbarred Clearwater lawyer Richard Da Fonte, who asked a judge to reconsider his 14-year sentence for stealing more than $1.7 million from clients, has been denied his request for shortened prison time. "I think the defense is very lucky that the law is that I cannot increase the sentence,'' Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Joseph A. Bulone said Friday.

For more, see Prison term of disbarred lawyer Richard Da Fonte sticks.

Go here for other posts on disbarred lawyer Richard Da Fonte.

(1) If a Florida attorney is representing you and screws you out of money or property through dishonest conduct and you seek some financial reimbursement for the screwing over, go to The Florida Bar's Clients' Security Fund for more information. For other states and Canada, see:

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

Florida Attorney Disbarred; Mortgage Money Mysteriously Goes Missing While Acting As Closing Agent In Real Estate Deals

In Pinellas County, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports that the Florida Supreme Court has recently disbarred attorney Richard Joseph Da Fonte of Clearwater for "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and "application of trust funds or property to specific purpose" in connection with his involvement in two real estate deals where money went missing. According to the story:

• In the first, he acted as the closing agent for the sale of a single-family residence. But instead of paying off two pre-existing mortgages on the property in accordance with the terms of the agreement, Da Fonte diverted $230,000 to an unknown third party, said Karen Lopez, an attorney with the Florida Bar. "We don't know where the money went," said Creston Nelson-Morrill, a Bar spokeswoman. The original mortgage holder filed for foreclosure, and while Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund managed to hold off the bank, the fund lost more than $300,000 as a result of Da Fonte's actions, according to the disbarment on consent signed by Da Fonte.

• In the second case, Da Fonte, working as an escrow agent and closing agent, failed to disburse $715,000 earmarked as loan proceeds. The deal didn't close even though the bank and buyer, who had begun making regular loan payments, believed it had.

For more, see Lawyer disbarred, two others are disciplined (Diverted mortgage funds led to the disbarment).

See Theft Of Escrow Funds I and Theft Of Escrow Funds II for other stories of trust account / escrow account theft of funds. sneaky slick escrow agents beta

Florida Attorneys Disciplined For Playing Fast & Loose With Clients' Cash

The North Country Gazette reports that, in Florida:

• The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, has announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 29 attorneys, disbarring eight, suspending 13, emergency suspending two, placing three on probation and reprimanding five. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline.

Of the 29, the following 12 have been disciplined for playing fast and loose with their clients' cash and/or property:

• Richard Charles Bagdasarian, Boca Raton, disbarred. Bagdasarian misappropriated client funds totaling more than $1.17 million from about 41 different clients and made material misrepresentations to his clients to conceal his misappropriation and conversion to his own use of the funds.

• Angelo Cappelli, St. Petersburg, disbarred. Cappelli was a trust officer in a bank and without the knowledge of or authorization from the bank opened an estate using a summary probate procedure. He then used his position to gain access to about $100,000 from a deceased customer’s estate and used about $75,000 of the funds.

• Richard Joseph Da Fonte, Clearwater, disbarred. Da Fonte served as the closing agent in one real estate transaction and represented the buyer as well as acted as closing agent and escrow agent in another. In one instance, funds were diverted that were intended to pay off two pre-existing mortgages. In the other, Da Fonte failed to tell his client or the bank making the loan that the closing had not occurred. When the bank learned that the transaction had not closed, Da Fonte failed to account for the loan proceeds and to return them to the bank.

• Chandra Parker Doucette, Boca Raton, suspended. Doucette was found in contempt of court for her failure to respond to subpoena issued by the Court, which ordered her to provide mandatory trust account records.

• Michael T. Kovach, Inverness, the subject of an emergency suspension, pursuant to an Oct. 31 court order. Kovach has failed to respond to three subpoenas commanding him to appear for a deposition and to produce trust account records. A Bar investigation indicated that he converted client funds from his trust account for his own personal purposes.

• Albert Scott Lagano, Melbourne, disbarred for 10 years. Lagano was found guilty of five counts related to trust fund shortages and the commingling of trust funds and operating funds of a number of clients. An audit found that, between August 2005 and November 2006, Lagano withdrew cash from his trust account or transferred to his office account a total of more than $1 million. He failed to maintain trust account records supporting these withdrawals and transfers.

• Peter Malo, disbarred. In August 2001, Malo was disbarred by the New York state bar based on charges of commingling and misappropriation of client funds or property.

• Joey Dean Oquist, St. Petersburg, suspended for two years. A bar auditor found evidence of shortages in Oquist’s trust account. It was determined that he failed to maintain the required cash receipts and disbursement journal and client ledger cards.

• Anthony Vincent Scalese, Pembroke Pines, suspended, until further order of the court. Scalese failed to produce trust fund records compelled by a subpoena issued in the course of a Bar investigation into the management of his trust account and was held in contempt of court.

• Marie Gilberte Thompson, Miami, disbarred. Thompson failed to comply with a subpoena for her trust account records. Records of a real estate transaction obtained from third parties showed that she received nearly $821,000 for payment of a mortgage loan. She failed to apply the trust funds to the specific purpose of paying off the mortgage and had insufficient funds to do so.

• Ruben Torrence Thompson, Miami, disbarred. Thompson failed to comply with a subpoena for his trust account records. Records of a real estate transaction obtained from third parties showed that he received nearly $821,000 for payment of a mortgage loan. He failed to apply the trust funds to the specific purpose of paying off the mortgage and had insufficient funds to do so.

• Kendrick Gerard Whittle, Miami, the subject of an emergency suspension, pursuant to an Oct. 23 court order. Whittle failed to produce bank and trust records in response to a subpoena. However, bank records show that he issued checks to himself totaling nearly $298,000 from client funds and used them to pay other clients and for personal matters such as rent, credit cards, Gables Sports Cars and Saks 5th Avenue.

Source: 29 Florida Attorneys Disciplined, Eight Disbarred. sneaky slick escrow agents beta