Suspended In Vegas

The Nevada Supreme Court imposed a four-year suspension, rejecting a more lenient proposed by the parties

Reade and the State Bar initially entered into a conditional guilty plea agreement under which Reade stipulated to violating RPC 8.4(b) (misconduct) and a suspension for 2 years. A Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board hearing panel approved the agreement. However, we rejected the conditional guilty plea because the 2-year suspension was insufficient. On remand, Reade again stipulated to violating RPC 8.4(b) (misconduct), and the hearing panel recommended that Reade be suspended from the practice of law in Nevada for 30 months and be required to pay a $25,000 fine to the Clients’ Security Fund. This automatic review followed.

The court upped the suspension but further ruled

Reade’s challenge to our authority to impose fines in addition to suspension or disbarment pursuant to SCR 102 is a matter of first impression. Based on the plain language of SCR 102, we conclude that this court can only impose a fine in conjunction with a public reprimand or a letter of reprimand.

Considering all of these factors, we agree with the panel’s recommendation that Reade be suspended. However, we do not agree that a 30-month suspension is commensurate with the criminal conduct that resulted in Reade’s conviction. In fact, this court has imposed longer suspensions in similar cases involving attorneys convicted of felonies and violations of RPC 8.4(b).

The case is Matter of R. Christopher Reade. 

The Las Vegas Review – Journal reported on the crimes.

Reade admitted in his plea agreement that he hid from authorities the role of Young in the $2.3 million purchase in 2007 of a company that brokered sales on the high-risk foreign currency exchange market.

At the time, Reade represented Young and his Global One Group, an Internet-based company that claimed to be training people how to trade on the currency exchange market. Young ran his massive fraud scheme online through Global One, defrauding investors out of $16 million between 2006 and 2008, according to federal prosecutors.

Reade acknowledged that Young and Global One funneled the $2.3 million into a holding company Reade created to purchase the currency exchange broker, Trend Commodities, and lied to regulators about it.

“Defendant Reade knew that his representations were false and that Young had committed the offense of money laundering by directing the transfer of money … for the Trend purchase,” Read’s plea agreement states.

(Mike Frisch)