No Ordinary Employee

The Delaware Supreme Court imposed a public reprimand of an attorney for problems with the operation of his escrow account. The problems were discovered in the course of a random audit of the account by the bar. It was thus learned that the attorney’s employee (his adult daughter) had embezzled approximately $162,000 from the account. The Board on Professional Responsibility’s report in the matter noted that the attorney had no information that would have put him on notice of the daughter’s dishonesty and that he had “less reason to doubt her honesty than the honesty of an ordinary employee…” The lawyer had mortgaged his home to pay off the affected persons and put his escrow account in compliance with requirements. (Mike Frisch)