Denver Pastor With History Of Civil Lawsuits Accusing Him Of Swindling People Out Of Homes & Savings To Cop Plea In Insurance Fraud Case

In Denver, Colorado, The Rocky Mountain News reports:

• The Rev. Acen Phillips, a longtime activist in Denver's black community, is expected to plead guilty in an insurance fraud case Thursday under a deal that will allow him to avoid jail. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers had charged Phillips with 12 felony counts of forgery, theft and attempted theft involving more than $575,000 from AIG Life Insurance Co.

***

• The cases highlight a career in which Phillips has been known for controversy almost as much as for outspokenness. A review of court documents shows a string of nearly 30 civil lawsuits against him [plus another 12 cases listed under the name "Acen Phillips" where it could not be immediately confirmed whether they can be linked to the pastor]. Most of those suits - including the active AIG suits - claimed that Phillips and his business associates either defaulted on loans or swindled people out of their homes and savings.

***

• Phillips is linked to at least seven civil lawsuits in the metro area filed against D.T.P. Ministries from 1984 to 1991, according to a courts database and the lawsuits themselves. Two other suits with a slight variation on the name - D.P.T. Ministries - also list Phillips. The D.T.P. suits tell similar stories: That Phillips, working with others, used his status as minister to gain trust and trick people out of their homes.

For the story, see Pastor expected to plead guilty (Acen Phillips would get no jail time under deal in insurance fraud case).

Issues Of Alleged Lawyer Pilfering Continue To Haunt Estate Of Deceased Brooklyn Judge; Heirs' Questions Concerning Unaccounted For Cash Remain Unanswered

In Brooklyn, New York the New York Post reports:

• A Queens lawyer accused of looting the estate of a Brooklyn judge is being probed by a grand jury over seven counts of grand larceny that accuse him of pocketing more than $700,000 in inheritance, The Post has learned.
  
  Attorney Frank Racano — currently serving a 30 day contempt-of-court sentence for not accounting for funds taken from the estate of the late Judge John Phillips — admitted to a Brooklyn surrogate’s court judge in March that he’d written checks to himself from the deceased jurist’s escrow account.
  
  Phillips was known as the “Kung Fu Judge” because of his black belt and habit of breaking out martial arts moves during court proceedings.
  
  The Brooklyn DA’s office is “moving forward with an indictment on the criminal charges,” Phillips’ nephew, the Rev. Samuel Boykin, said [].
  
  “My family and I are alleging that he has ripped the estate off for 713,000,” Boykin said of Racano, who he had hired to help handle the estate.
  
  A law enforcement source confirmed Racano was “under investigation.”
  
  The disgruntled nephew also recently filed a $160 million notice of claim against the city, saying he was improperly removed as executor of Phillips’ estate in January 2015 and “illegally” replaced with public administrator Charles Fiori.
  
  Fiori then went on to settle the family’s $40M wrongful death suit against Prospect Park Residence — where the judge froze to death in 2008 — for just $750G, without consulting any of them, Boykin said.
  
  “None of the seven heirs have any idea what happened to the $750,000. We have no idea where it is,” Boykin told The Post. “Many of my family members believe he stole the money. Fiori has been over the estate since January 2015, and not only do we not know where the money is, but we have no idea what he’s doing with it.
  
  “These people have taken that money, pretended it was theirs, and disappeared,” a frustrated Boykin continued, referring to both Racano and Fiori.
  
  “All seven heirs are highly upset, and wondering how the courts could let these people get away with this,” he added. “My uncle served as a civil court judge for 17 years, and the system he served so diligently has really let him down.”

Source: Lawyer probed in ‘Kung Fu Judge’ missing $700K inheritance.

Attorney Gets 1 To 3 Years In State Prison For Siphoning Off Nearly $600K In Real Property Sale Proceeds From Estate Of Deceased Brooklyn Judge

From the Office of the Kings County, New York District Attorney:

• Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today [April 20] announced that a Howard Beach attorney was sentenced to one to three years in state prison following his guilty plea earlier this year to second-degree grand larceny for siphoning off approximately $600,000 from an estate that he was hired to represent and using the funds for his personal expenses.
  
  Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant disregarded his duty to his client, stealing nearly all of the proceeds due to the estate of the beloved Hon. Judge Phillips, including from the sale of the historic Slave Theater. He’s now been held accountable for his brazen theft and shameful conduct.”
  
  The Acting District Attorney said that the defendant, Frank Racano, 54, of Howard Beach, Queens, was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to one to three years in prison and required to sign a judgment order or restitution for $587,160.56 payable to the estate of John Phillips, at the request of the District Attorney’s Office. Racano pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny in January.
  
  The Acting District Attorney said that between February 2013 and May 2015, the defendant stole approximately $587,160.56 from the estate of New York City Civil Court Judge John L. Phillips, Jr., who died unmarried, childless and without a will on February 16, 2008.
  
  The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on January 16, 2009, Samuel Boykin, a nephew by marriage, successfully petitioned the Kings County Surrogate to be appointed administrator of the estate.
  
  In early 2010, Boykin hired Racano, a licensed attorney, to assist in the sale of the estate’s real estate holdings, which included the Slave Theater, located at 1215-1217 Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant and 10 Halsey Street, a vacant lot behind the theater. In 2012, the properties went into contract for a total of $2.2 million and the buyer paid the estate a down payment of $220,000. That check, payable to “Frank Racano, as attorney,” was deposited into the defendant’s attorney trust checking account.
  
  Kings County Surrogate Diana Johnson approved the sale of the properties on December 19, 2012. On February 25, 2013, at the closing for the properties, the buyer’s attorney paid closing expenses and taxes that were owed on the property. The net proceeds of the sale, $517,339.65, were paid to the estate in two checks payable to “Frank Racano, as attorney.”
  
  Racano deposited those two checks into his trust account, thus the total proceeds from the sale of the properties credited to the estate should have been $737,339.65. Between February 2013 and May 2015, Racano paid estate expenditures for tax assistance and other services totaling $150,179.09. During this same period, he wrote and cashed over 300 checks to himself in amounts ranging from $45 to $7,500, without authorization from the estate or the Court and completely depleted the account, stealing a total of $587,160.56.(1)

Source: Attorney Sentenced to State Prison for Stealing Almost $600,000 From the Estate of Deceased New York City Civil Court Judge (Stolen Funds Include Proceeds from Sale of Historic Slave Theater in Bedford-Stuyvesant).

----------------------------

(1) In New York, the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection was created to provide a source of, at least partial, reimbursement to clients who have suffered monetary losses at the hands of dishonest lawyers licensed and practicing in the state.

According to their website, typical losses reimbursed by the Lawyers' Fund include the theft of estate and trust assets, escrow deposits in real property transactions, settlements in personal injury litigation, debt collection receipts, money embezzled in investment transactions with law clients, and unearned fees paid in advance to lawyers who falsely promise their legal services.

Perhaps the best of all the attorney ripoff reimbursement funds in the U.S. in terms of its payout limits, the Fund places a $400,000 maximum limit, per law client loss, on awards from the Fund, fixed by regulation of the Fund's Trustees. There is no aggregate maximum on awards involving one lawyer.

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:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (February 2017) (includes Canadian recovery 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.

Yet To Be Hit w/ Criminal Charges, Sticky-Fingered Lawyer Gets 30 Days In Jail For Contempt Of Court For Failing To Comply w/ Court Order Demanding An Accounting For Over $2 Million In Sale Proceeds From Auction Of Real Estate Owned By Estate Of Local Judge

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• A Queens attorney was thrown into jail for 30 days after admitting he raided the late Judge John (Kung Fu) Phillips’ estate for two years, the Daily News has learned.
  
  Frank Racano, who worked as an attorney for Rev. Samuel Boykin — Phillips’s nephew — has been locked up since March 1 for not complying with a court order telling him to account for funds from the more than $2 million auction of the Slave Theater building and nearby property in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
  
  Racano, 54 of Howard Beach, was hauled into Brooklyn Supreme Court by city sheriffs []. He wore an orange jumpsuit and needed a cane to walk because of a foot injury.
  
  “I tried to stay afloat and it all just snowballed,” Racano told Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Laura Lee Jacobson.
  
  Racano admitted that he “robbed from Peter to pay Paul” by writing checks from Phillips’ estate’s escrow account and putting the money into his personal accounts to pay off debts.
  
  “This estate was used as everyone’s honey pot ... He took an oath as an officer of the court and he violated them,” said Jacobson.
  
  The judge sentenced Racano to 30 days in jail — on top of the 23 days he spent locked up waiting to go before the judge — and gave him a $1,000 fine. Sources familiar with the case said it is very rare for an attorney to be jailed for contempt of court.
  
  ***
  The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office is investigating Racano, a spokeswoman confirmed.
  
  This, unfortunately, was not the first time Phillips or his estate have been targeted.
  
  In 2008, Phillips' former guardian, Emani Taylor, was ordered to repay $403,000 to his estate. And in 2006, Maria Leyna Albertina pleaded guilty for stealing the deeds of several homes in Brooklyn, including one that belonged to Phillips.

For more, see Queens lawyer gets 30 days in jail after admitting he raided late judge’s estate.

No Fee For Brooklyn Attorney, Ordered To Pay Back $400K+ In Allegedly Improper Payments Taken In Guardianship Matter Of Retired Judge

In New York City, the ABA Journal reports:

• Attorney Emani Taylor apparently was hoping to get $853,000 for three years of work as a guardian for a former New York judge. Instead, the New York lawyer got a lecture on legal ethics from Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrosio and a $403,000 surcharge for improper payments she had earlier made to herself from selling real estate owned by former Civil Court Judge John Phillips, reports the New York Law Journal. The article was reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).

***

• [Judge] Phillips, who suffered from Alzheimer's, died in February at age 83. At one point he reportedly held real estate worth some $10 million. Taylor has been suspended from the practice of law by the Appellate Division, First Department, for, as Ambrosio puts it, "at best, withdrawing funds from the guardianship account for legal fees without court permission, or, at worst, intentionally converting guardianship funds."

For more, see No $853K Guardian Payday for N.Y. Lawyer; Also Hit With $403K Surcharge.
For a more detailed account of this story, see New York Lawyer: NY Lawyer Must Pay Back $403,000, Denied All of $853,000 Fee Request (free registration required).

• Justice Ambrosio lacerated Ms. Taylor's performance, calling her conduct "egregious" and reflecting "a fundamental lack of understanding of what her role as a guardian entailed." At one point, he called her explanation for not producing time sheets and other records a "dog ate my homework excuse."

For earlier posts on this story, see:

• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
• NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate. granny-snatching

After Spending 30 Days In Jail Under Civil Order For Failing To Provide Accounting For Money Held In Estate Account, Attorney Gets Thrown Back In Jail, This Time Indicted For Alleged Theft Of Over $500K He Earlier Failed To Account For

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• A Queens lawyer who spent 30 days in jail under a civil order for digging into the estate of the late Judge John Phillips was thrown back behind bars [] after Brooklyn prosecutors indicted him for the same crime.
  
  When the legendary Bedford-Stuyvesant Slave Theater and an adjacent lot sold at auction for $2.2 million in 2012, the executor of the estate Samuel Boykin and Frank Racano were to report to a surrogates court judge where the money would go.
  
  After several unanswered requests, the judge removed Boykin as the executor and held them both in contempt of court.
  
  In March, the Daily News reported, Racano was brought into Brooklyn Civil Supreme Court by city sheriffs where he admitted to selfishly writing over 300 checks to himself from the estate’s escrow account to pay bills.
  
  “The money disappeared, the account whittled down to $100 last year May,” said Assistant District Attorney Frank Dutis in court.
  
  Racano stole $587,160.56, prosecutors said. The judge sentenced Racano to 30 days in jail and gave him a $1,000 fine.
  
  With Racano’s admission in civil court, prosecutors indicted him for one-count of second-degree grand larceny. “We will now hold him accountable for these shameful criminal acts,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.
  
  Racano’s attorney Sam Karliner entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. If convicted, Racano faces up to 15 years in prison.
  
  Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun set bail at $250,000 cash or bond and ordered a bail sufficiency hearing.
  
  Phillips, who was known as the “Kung Fu Judge” for his martial arts skills, suffered from Alzheimer's and died in the troubled Prospect Park Residence in 2008 when they failed to give him a diabetic diet and a room with heat. He was 83.

Source: Queens lawyer who spent 30 days in jail for raiding late judge's estate thrown back behind bars.

For the Brooklyn District Attorney press release, see Attorney Indicted for Stealing Almost $600,000 From the Estate of Deceased New York City Civil Court Judge (Stolen Funds Include Proceeds from Sale of Historic Slave Theater in Bedford-Stuyvesant).

NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate

In Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports:

• The allegations of fraud that have swirled around the handling of a retired judge’s once-vast real estate empire have finally taken solid form after a blockbuster decision by a Manhattan disciplinary committee leveled serious charges against a lawyer long at the center of the controversy. The attorney disciplinary body of the Appellate Division, First Department, recently rendered a decision condemning the handling of retired judge John Phillips’ assets by court-appointed attorney Emani P. Taylor. The former property guardian was charged with mismanagement of close to three-quarters of a million dollars in cash and real estate during her two-plus year tenure as property guardian. In the Dec. 27, 2007, decision by investigators looking into the case ordered Taylor, “be suspended from the practice of law, effective immediately.”

For more, see Disciplinary Committee Suspends Attorney (Retired Judge’s Former Property Guardian Charged With Improper Handling of Estate Funds).

See also, Judge’s Guardian Suspended For Handling Of Money (North Country Gazette).

For the New York Appellate Court ruling on this case, see In the Matter of Emani P. Taylor, (Supreme Court Appellate Division, 1st Department, December 27, 2007).

For an earlier post on this story, see Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of public administrators' / public guardians' offices when taking over the assets of the dead and incapacitated. daily eagle retired judge

Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on what sounds like a cesspool that may exist in the guardianship process in New York. The story involves a retired judge with a once-sizable estate who was declared incapacitated by a state court and whose estate was placed under the supervision of a court-appointed guardian. Since that time, the retired judge's bones sound like they were picked clean. By the time a Brooklyn, New York District Attorney's criminal investigation found that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the story reports that "the once-proud judge was left homeless, without the ability to pay his own utility bills."

For more, see Were Funds Pilfered from a Retired Judge’s Estate? (Supporters Say Accounting Should Reopen Criminal Probe).

For story update, see Watchdog Group Looks at Brooklyn Court’s Handling of Retired Judge’s Estate (Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 9-14-07) - which reports:

• A respected judicial watchdog group that maintains a Web site and a paid subscription service has taken on one of the more intransigent cases to have appeared on a court docket in recent years — the guardianship case of retired Civil Court Judge John Phillips, whose supporters have cried foul over the way his once vast estate has been mishandled by a series of court-appointed attorneys, experts and judges over the years. Go here for more.

For additional reporting on the story of the alleged ripoff of the judge's assets by court-appointed guardians, see Fallen Guardian Angels - by Leah Nelson (reported in Judicial Reports).

Go here for other posts on this story.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of the public administrator's offices in New York City. daily eagle retired judge granny-snatching racket

Cousin, Niece Get Year & A Day After Copping Pleas To Abusing POA To Loot Accounts, Sell Home Out From Under Senior Thought To Be On Deathbed

In Multnomah County, Oregon, the Corvallis Gazette Times reports:

• An 83-year-old woman was in court to watch as two relatives who wiped out her savings and sold her home were sent to prison. Court records indicate the relatives expected Evelyn Roth to die when she was diagnosed with a cancerous growth on her esophagus in February 2008. Instead, she made a remarkable recovery. Then she learned that a cousin and a niece, who had obtained power of attorney, had sold her Portland home and her car, pocketed the proceeds and emptied out her accounts. They even prepaid her funeral.

• Roth's cousin, Virginia Ann Kuehn, 66, and her oldest niece, Kathleen Sue Jingling, 53, pleaded no contest to seven counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, aggravated theft and first-degree theft. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge John Wittmayer sentenced each [] to a year and a day in prison, followed by five years probation. The extra day ensures they will serve their sentences in a state prison rather than a county jail.

***

• Neither Kuehn nor Jingling said anything in court. Jingling did sign a check for $12,000, which was given to Roth. They've paid back more than $145,000 of the estimated $325,000 that Roth lost, Deputy District Attorney Chuck Mickley said.

• Roth and her friends want others to know there are resources to combat such crimes. In this case, Irma Mitchell-Phillips, a Multnomah County adult protective services investigator, worked closely with Portland police Officer Deanna Wesson, who specializes in elder abuse, and Mickley, a Multnomah County prosecutor who was named late last year to focus on financial elder abuse crimes. "A lot of times, a lot of elderly and vulnerable people think their family is not going to do them wrong, but that's not the case. We see family involved over and over again," said Mitchell-Phillips, who attended Monday's sentencing.

For the story, see Theft victim watches as 2 relatives sent to prison.

NYS High Court To Rogue Bankruptcy Trustees, Greedy Creditors: Hands Off 80-Year Old Widow's Rent Regulated Home Of 50 Years; Declares Those Leases To Be "Public Assistance Benefit" Exempt From Creditors' Claims Under State Law

In New York City, The New York Times reports:

• In a decision with implications for millions of tenants, New York State’s highest court ruled Thursday that a lease for a rent-regulated apartment is a public benefit and cannot be seized as an asset in a personal bankruptcy.
  
  In a 5-to-2 vote, the Court of Appeals said that a rent-stabilized lease was exempted from a bankruptcy estate as a public assistance benefit, just like disability or unemployment benefits. Bankruptcy lawyers in New York who were closely monitoring the case said that not keeping the lease off limits would have made it easier for landlords to evict rent-stabilized tenants if they file for bankruptcy, even when they pay their rent.
  
  The case involved Mary Veronica Santiago, an 80-year-old widow in the East Village of Manhattan whose landlord, who was not one of her creditors, offered to buy her rent-stabilized lease and produce the money to pay off her debt of about $23,000. The bankruptcy trustee in charge of marshaling her assets, John S. Pereira, accepted the offer but Mrs. Santiago’s lawyers, fearing her eventual eviction despite an agreement to let her stay in the unit, challenged that decision.
  
  After both a bankruptcy court and a Federal District Court sided with the bankruptcy trustee, Mrs. Santiago appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The federal court deferred to the state court as the final authority on the question of whether the lease should be exempt under New York law.(1)
  
  Mrs. Santiago’s case was the first time an appellate court in New York had ruled on whether the leases should be exempt.
  
  “When the rent-stabilization regulatory scheme is considered against the backdrop of the crucial role that it plays in the lives of New York residents, and the purpose and effect of the program,” Judge Sheila Abdus-Salam wrote for the majority, “it is evident that a tenant’s rights under a rent-stabilized lease are a local public assistance benefit.”
  
  “Affordable housing,” the majority said, “is an essential need.”
  
  Also voting with the majority were Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and Judges Eugene F. Pigott Jr., Victoria A. Graffeo and Jenny Rivera.
  
  Both the state and New York City regarded the case as posing a major risk to New Yorkers who seek bankruptcy protection and happen to live in rent-stabilized apartments, and threw their weight behind Mrs. Santiago. In a brief filed jointly in September, the New York attorney general’s office and the city’s Law Department argued that treating a lease like property that could be sold, like a car or a piece of land, would undermine the safeguards that both bankruptcy and rent laws are supposed to provide.
  
  The case also drew the interest of lawyers who saw it as a threat to the housing stability of many low-income New Yorkers. Mrs. Santiago’s case was argued before the state court by Ronald J. Mann, a law professor at Columbia University and experienced bankruptcy specialist.
  
  “The decision finally restores the status quo that held for decades, protecting these tenants in bankruptcy so long as they pay their rent,” Mr. Mann said.
  
  John P. Campo, a lawyer for the bankruptcy trustee, said “the general consensus” before the state court ruled on the matter Thursday was that a lease was not a public benefit.
  
  “The trustee all along was simply following the law,” he said.
  
  In a dissenting opinion, Judge Robert S. Smith argued that the majority “grossly misreads” the law by treating rent regulation as public assistance. He was joined by Judge Susan Phillips Read.
  
  “I would like to try asking every rent-controlled or rent-stabilized tenant in New York: ’Do you receive public assistance?’ ” Judge Smith wrote. “I would be surprised to find even one (apart from those receiving government subsidies from other programs) who answered yes.”
  
  But Linda B. Rosenthal, a member of the State Assembly who introduced a bill two years ago to prohibit the use of rent-regulated leases as assets in bankruptcy proceedings, said she had heard from tenants who needed bankruptcy protection but were afraid to seek it.
  
  “I’m just delighted that the court got it right,” said Ms. Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat who also submitted a brief in the case along with 17 other state legislators on behalf of Mrs. Santiago. “People who are in the unfortunate circumstances of having to file for bankruptcy will no longer put it off for fear of losing their home.”
  
  Mrs. Santiago’s lawyers said they expected her bankruptcy case to close quickly after the federal court adopts the state court’s ruling and issues its opinion in a few months.
  
  In the two-bedroom, $703-a-month apartment where she has lived for more than 50 years, Mrs. Santiago burst into tears when she heard about the decision from her bankruptcy lawyer, Kathleen G. Cully.
  
  “It’s such a big relief,” she said in a phone interview. “I don’t have to worry about my landlord anymore.”

Source: Rent-Stabilized Leases Shielded in Bankruptcy.

For the ruling, see In re Santiago-Monteverde (Santiago-Monteverde v. Pereira) (uncorrected), No. 180 (N.Y. November 20, 2014).

For an earlier story, pre-dating this court ruling, see Widow’s Bankruptcy Case Poses Risk to Rent-Stabilized Tenants.

(1) The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that, in cases when the Federal courts are asked to rule on issues involving the interpretation and application of substantive (as opposed to procedural) state law, "the State's highest court is the best authority on its own law." Commissioner v. Estate of Bosch, 387 U.S. 456 (1967).

In deciding to ask the New York Court of Appeal (the state's highest court) to weigh in as to the nature of a rent-stabilized lease, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (In re Santiago-Monteverde, 747 F. 3d 153 (2nd Cir. March 31, 2014)) gave the following analysis of the applicable law and its reasoning:

• Given the significance of these issues to landlords and tenants, as well as the complete absence of authority concerning the impact of DCL § 282(2) on rent stabilized leases, we hesitate to attempt to resolve these issues without first obtaining the views of the New York Court of Appeals.
  
  C. CERTIFICATION
  
  Pursuant to Rule 27.2 of our Local Rules and New York State law, we may certify "determinative questions of New York law [that] are involved in a case pending before [us] for which no controlling precedent of the Court of Appeals exists." N.Y. Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 22, § 500.27(a); Local R. 27.2; see also N.Y. Const. art. VI, § 3(b)(9) (directing the New York Court of Appeals to adopt a rule permitting it to answer questions of New York law certified to it by, among other courts, "a court of appeals of the United States").
  
  "Before certifying such a question, we must answer three others: (1) whether the New York Court of Appeals has addressed the issue and, if not, whether the decisions of other New York courts permit us to predict how the Court of Appeals would resolve it; (2) whether the question is of importance to the state and may require value judgments and public policy choices; and (3) whether the certified question is determinative of a claim before us." In re Thelen LLP, 736 F.3d at 224 (internal quotation marks omitted). In this case, we answer all three questions in favor of certification.
  
  First, neither the Court of Appeals nor lower New York courts have addressed (1) the meaning of "local public assistance benefit" in the context of DCL § 282(2), (2) whether the protections provided by the RSC are personal or property rights, or (3) the effect of the assignment of a tenant's lease during bankruptcy on her rights under the RSC. This prevents us from making any confident prediction of how the New York Court of Appeals would resolve this issue. [Editor's note: an "Erie guess"].
  
  Second, the issue of the proper interpretation' and interaction of the DCL and RSC is "of importance to the state" and will in fact involve "value judgments and public policy choices" concerning the existence and scope of property rights, as well as the application of emergency housing legislation that was carefully designed to balance the rights and interests of renters and building owners. Manocherian, 84 N.Y.2d at 389-90, 618 N.Y.S.2d 857, 643 N.E.2d 479.
  
  Finally, the resolution of this question will determine the outcome of this appeal, as it is the only question presented to this Court.
  
  III. CONCLUSION
  
  The following question is hereby certified to the Court of Appeals of the State of New York pursuant to 2d Cir. Local R. 27.2 and N.Y. Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 22, § 500.27(a), as ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
  
  Whether a debtor-tenant possesses a property interest in the protected value of her rent-stabilized lease that may be exempted from her bankruptcy estate pursuant to New York State Debtor and Creditor Law Section 282(2) as a "local public assistance benefit"?
  
  In certifying this question, we understand that the New York Court of Appeals, if it accepts the case, may reformulate or expand the certified question as it deems appropriate. We do not intend this articulation of the above specified question to limit the scope of the analysis by the Court of Appeals

Cops: SW Florida Man Abused POA To Steal $80K+ From Elderly Mom & Dad, Selling Their Mobile Home, Pocketing The Cash & Sticking Them Into A Nursing Home; Probe Triggered When Facility Tipped Off Investigators That Suspect Was Stiffing Them Out Of Parents' Housing, Care Expenses

In Lee County, Florida, WBBH-TV Channel 2 reports:

• A Lee County man has been arrested, accused of taking more than $80,000 from his own parents. State investigators said it continued even after his father died.
  
  Ryan Powers had power of attorney when he sold his parents' home and pocketed the money, according to investigators. They also said he was using up their social security income but never paid his father's funeral costs.
  
  John Provencar knew the couple well. "We went to go see Rusty at the hospital a few times... but I feel really bad for Janet because she's the one left with all the problems," Provencar said.
  
  He lived next door to the Powers in Alva, and can't believe their 40-year-old son would steal from his ailing parents. "People should earn their own way and not take it away from somebody else that's in need."
  
  The attorney general's office and Lee County deputies said that's exactly what happened. After Powers gained power of attorney last year, he opened up a fraudulent bank account and deposited his parents' social security checks. He then used debit cards to spend more than $6,000.
  
  "It's sad, but it happens a lot down here. More than a lot of people know," said Debbie Phillips, a professional guardian who works with seniors. "They're an easy target," she said.
  
  Powers' parents told him to sell their mobile home and use the money to remodel a home in Lehigh, a home they bought him, hoping they could move in.
  
  Instead, they ended up in a nursing home, and Powers pocketed $72,000.
  
  "I never thought he would be doing something like that to his parents," Provencar said.
  
  Powers' father died in July. Investigators said Powers didn't even pay the funeral costs, letting the body cremated with taxpayer money. "It flies under the radar because people think that it's a family matter and nobody wants to get involved."
  
  Deputies were tipped off after Powers didn't pay for his parents' nursing home care.
  
  He's accused of stealing more than $82,000 and was arrested after a 10-month investigation. He faces two counts of exploitation of an elderly person.

Source: Lee County man accused of stealing from elderly parents.

Florida Supreme Court Slams Six Attorneys In 'Sticky Fingers' Syndrome Cases

The Florida Bar has recently issued its quarterly gossip sheet, listing Florida attorneys that have recently received one or more forms of discipline.

Among those making this quarter's hit parade for possibly playing fast and loose with the cash sitting in their client's trust account, or who otherwise suffered from 'sticky fingers' syndrome with regard to other people's money, are:

1. Ryan Scott Hobby, 836 W. Montrose St., Suite 1, Clermont, suspended until further order, following an October 6 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2005) According to a petition for emergency suspension, Hobby appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating client trust funds. Hobby admitted through counsel to making 13 improper transfers from his trust bank account to another bank account totaling $14,250. (Case No. SC11-1886)



2. John D. Hooker, 13610 E. U.S. Highway 92, Dover, suspended until further order, following an October 10 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1974) According to a petition for emergency suspension, Hooker appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating trust funds. Hooker improperly commingled funds. He also failed to maintain certain trust accounting records and follow mandatory trust accounting procedures. (Case No. SC11-1766)



3. James Lewis Hunter, 150 2nd Ave. N., Suite 1170, St. Petersburg, suspended until further order, following an October 10 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2004) According to a petition for emergency suspension, Hunter appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating client trust funds. He also abandoned his law practice. (Case No. SC11-1919)



4. James Crenshaw Kelley, 12651 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 201, Pinecrest, suspended until further order, following an October 31 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1977) According to a petition for emergency suspension, Kelley appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating and/or diverting funds entrusted to him. Kelley disbursed more than $124,000 that was deposited into his trust account for a client’s benefit, to himself for personal use. Kelley subsequently wrote the client, begging her not to report his actions to The Florida Bar. (Case No. SC11-2035)



5. Octavio Enrique Mestre, 9031 S.W. 162nd Court, Miami, disbarred following an October 11 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1992) In 2005, while acting as a settlement agent in a real estate transaction, Mestre failed to satisfy an underlying mortgage and in so doing, failed to preserve and apply the funds in accordance with Bar rules regulating trust accounts. (SC11-1867)



6. Gregg Adam Steinberg, 4441 Comanche Trail Blvd., Saint Johns, disbarred effective retroactive to August 30, 2010, following an October 7 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1993) Steinberg knowingly made false statements in court under oath; he failed to disclose that he was the subject of a pending criminal investigation; he misappropriated funds; and he engaged in a pattern of blaming others in an attempt to deflect attention from himself. (Case No. SC10-161)

In addition, one attorney received a scolding for associating himself with a loan modification group and sharing fees with nonlawyers:

• Curt G. Levine, 5036 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Suite 358, Orlando, publicly reprimanded following an October 6 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1973) Levine associated himself with a loan modification group and shared fees with nonlawyers. (Case No. SC10-536)

For the entire gossip sheet, see Disciplinary Actions (1/1/2012).