A Colorado attorney received a stayed four-month suspension with probation for misconduct described ojn the court’s web page

In August 2012, [the attorney] was retained by a criminal defendant for representation in two cases. [He] charged his client $35,000.00 for three phases of litigation, including discovery, trial preparation, and trial. [He] did not provide his client with a written explanation of his fee. His client’s wife paid him $10,000.00, but [he] did not give her a receipt, nor did he deposit any of the funds. Instead, [he] gave $5,000.00 to his co‐counsel and $1,100.00 to his son. He kept the remaining $3,900.00 in a lockbox in his office and withdrew fees as he earned them. [He] kept no documentation of these transactions.

During the representation, [he] reviewed his client’s discovery, performed research, met with the U.S. attorney, and met with his client on six occasions. There was no court activity on his client’s cases between October 18, 2012, and March 21, 2013, nor did [he] speak with his client during this time period. He finally contacted his client’s wife in March 2013 to inform her that he had suffered a mild heart attack. [He] thereafter failed to respond to a request for an accounting but asserts that he first became aware of his client’s request during the disciplinary investigation. When his client retained new counsel, [he] did not turn over any file notes, pleadings, memoranda, or research documents.