The Mother Of All Excuses Fails

An Illinois Hearing Board has proposed a suspension of three years and until further order in a case involving misuse of entrusted funds.

The attorney’s explanation?

His mother did it:

Although Respondent denied committing misconduct,  he acknowledged using funds that had been improperly transferred from his IOLTA  account into his business account. Respondent claimed his mother, who was 82  years of age at the time of the hearing, transferred the funds without his  knowledge. Respondent also claimed his mother was responsible for fabricating  the false bank statements he submitted to the ARDC.

The Hearing Board did not believe the testimony of  Respondent and his mother and found Respondent committed all of the charged  misconduct. Specifically, the Hearing Board found Respondent failed to promptly  deliver to a client or third person funds that the client or third person is  entitled to receive, engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or  misrepresentation, knowingly made a false statement of material fact to a third  person, knowingly made false statements of material fact in connection with a  disciplinary matter, and engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of  justice.

The Hearing Board found a substantial amount of  aggravation, including Respondent’s false testimony in this proceeding, pattern  of dishonesty, and failure to recognize his misconduct. There was minimal  mitigation. After considering the proven misconduct and case law, the Hearing  Board recommended that Respondent be suspended for three years and until further  order of the court and that he be required to pay restitution within six months  of the final order of discipline.

(Mike Frisch)