I wired a lawyer 50k to be held in a client escrow account. The lawyer got into a situation and spent my money. What can I do?

Dearborn Heights, MI Viewed 23 times. Posted 6 months ago in Fraud

The money was sent from my business account and I was told it would not be touched and I could get the money back whenever. Since it went into an escrow account, I trusted him. I did not hire him. He was an acquaintance, he said he wanted to "show" the money to encourage an investor to invest in a company he was trying to go public. Can't he lose his license for this? It is completely unethical. Is it fraud? I have proof of wire. I have check he wrote in an attempt to return some of the $ that I wasn't able to cash.

Answers (3)

David C. Garner

This attorney is licensed in California. Posted 6 months ago.

This is an extremely serious situation for a couple of reasons. More attorneys are disciplined for playing footsie with the client trust account then just about any other reason. In addition to an ethical violation for which he could be disbarred, you have a civil cause of action to recover the money and there are possible criminal sanctions for theft, embezzlement and/or conversion and fraud.

I would alert the authorities immediately.

Michael G. Lichterman

This attorney is licensed in Michigan. Posted 6 months ago.

The state bar has very good resources to help answer your questions and take action, if necessary. For a helpful start, you can look here

http://www.agcmi.com/

Jonathan H Levy

This attorney is licensed in California and 1 other state. Posted 4 months ago.

It's called theft - report him to the police and the state bar. They guy may not even be a lawyer but a total crook since this is so blatant.

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