One Year For Structuring Bank Deposits To Avoid Reporting Requirements

An attorney has been suspended by the New York appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department for a federal conviction described by the New Jersey United States Attorney

Two lawyers with a Fairfield, N.J., law firm today admitted they structured $354,000 in client funds into their attorney accounts to avoid currency reporting requirements, U. S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.

Goldie Sommer, 61, of Montville, and Edward Engelhart, 61, of Rockaway, attorneys with the firm of Sommer and Engelhart, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson in Newark federal court to conspiring to structure transactions to avoid reporting large amounts of currency. They had surrendered to IRS agents in Newark on Nov. 16, 2011.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Between Aug. 13, 2010, and Sept. 22, 2010, Sommer and Engelhart made numerous deposits totaling $354,000 into their attorney trust account in large, even dollar amounts. None of these deposits were made in an amount greater than $10,000, the amount that would have triggered the filing of a currency transaction report (“CTR”) with the IRS.

The court imposed a one-year suspension as reciprocal discipline based on the same sanction in New Jersey.

In New York, disbarment is automatic where a federal felony conviction mirrors a state crime.

Where, as here, there is no such statute, the court retains the authority to impose a lesser sanction. (Mike Frisch)