Ohio Reinstates Attorney Convicted Of Tax Offenses: Failures To Report Involved (Inter Alia) “House Fees” For Exotic Dancers Working In His Strip Club

The Ohio Supreme Court has reinstated an attorney who had been suspended for two years due to a conviction in a tax case.

In the complaint, relator alleged that after a two-week criminal trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, a jury found that Lawrence had knowingly underreported income from various businesses that he owned in whole or in part for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 tax years. Some of the unreported income came from businesses that were tangentially related to his practice of law—including rental income that he received from other attorneys. Lawrence was convicted in July 2012 of three counts of filing false tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. 7206(1) and sentenced to 27 months of incarceration on each count to be served concurrently, followed by a one-year term of supervised release. Lawrence was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $300 and restitution of $128,253.26 plus interest, which he paid in full by December 17, 2012. Upon notification of his felony conviction, we suspended his license on an interim basis effective November 29, 2012. In re Lawrence, 133 Ohio St.3d 1496, 2012-Ohio- 5492, 978 N.E.2d 914.

Lawrence’s conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States v. Lawrence, 557 Fed.Appx. 520 (6th Cir.2014), and the Supreme Court of the United States denied his petition for a writ of certiorari, Lawrence v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 135 S.Ct. 223, 190 L.Ed.2d 133 (2014).

The court granted credit for time served on the interim suspension imposed after the conviction.

The parties stipulate that the mitigating factors include the absence of a prior disciplinary record, Lawrence’s timely, good-faith effort to make restitution or rectify the consequences of his misconduct, his cooperative attitude toward the proceedings, evidence of his good character and reputation apart from the charged misconduct, the imposition of other penalties, and the absence of harm to his clients. See Gov.Bar R. V(13)(C)(1), (3), (4), (5), and (6). The parties agree that just one aggravating factor is present—that Lawrence engaged in a pattern of misconduct…

We agree that Lawrence violated DR 1-102(A)(3) and (4) and that his misconduct warrants a two-year suspension. In light of the significant mitigating factors present, we also agree that Lawrence should receive credit for the time served under his interim felony suspension. Therefore, we adopt the parties’ consent-to-discipline agreement.

Details on the tax case are set out in an opinion remanding a malpractice claim that the attorney brought against her tax advisor as well as in the Circuit Court opinion affirming the conviction.

Defendant Meredith Lawrence was a personal injury lawyer who owned Racers, a strip club, held a number of residential and commercial office properties, which he leased, and lived on over 3,000 acres of land, which he farmed. He earned income from these businesses and operated them with the assistance of several employees, including bookkeepers. In 2003, Lawrence hired CPA Robert Ryan to prepare tax returns for all of the entities in which Lawrence was involved. Ryan also prepared and electronically filed Lawrence’s personal tax returns for 2004, 2005, and 2006. Ryan included Lawrence’s unique PIN (Personal Identification Number) on each return…

During a two-week jury trial, the government introduced proof that Lawrence failed to report income from five different sources: (1) “house fees” from the exotic dancers who worked at Racers; (2) withdrawals from his client trust accounts; (3) rental income from attorneys who leased office space from him; (4) reimbursements from those same attorneys for office expenses; and (5) rental income from residential tenants.

This is the second case in two days from Ohio that involve a lawyer and exotic dancers. (Mike Frisch)