Cousins

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has revoked an attorney’s license for misconduct in connection with his cousin’s immigration situation.

Respondent

Attorney Ifediora is a naturalized American citizen who was born in Nigeria. He was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 2003. He is a retired professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. For some years, Attorney Ifediora maintained a law office in Madison. His license to practice law has been suspended since 2016 for failure to comply with continuing legal education requirements, failure to pay State Bar dues, and non-compliance with trust account certification requirements. Attorney Ifediora currently resides in Virginia. He has no previous disciplinary record.

Client

On January 10, 2022, the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a complaint against Attorney Ifediora alleging twelve counts of misconduct. All counts arose out of Attorney Ifediora’s representation of his first cousin, O.A., a Nigerian citizen, who sought Attorney Ifediora’s assistance in becoming a permanent resident in the United States. At that time, Attorney Ifediora was employed as an economics professor at UWPlatteville. Attorney Ifediora told OLR that he had retired from the practice of law but wanted to assist O.A. in becoming a permanent U.S. resident merely on a “familial basis.”

Respondent had received funds from the cousin

The referee had no difficulty concluding that Attorney Ifediora mishandled and converted over $250,000 of O.A.’s funds. The referee noted that client money that was intended to be paidto a third party was required to be placed into a  trust account, but Attorney Ifediora did not have a trust account. The referee commented on “the ease with which [Attorney] Ifediora lied to bthis Referee about not paying himself out of [O.A.’s] $50,000 for his services.” The referee found that Attorney Ifediora failed to notify O.A. that he had received $200,000 of O.A.’s money from USFP, and he failed to provide O.A. with an accounting of the $200,000 after he had distributed those funds. The referee found that Attorney Ifediora converted the $200,000 when he spent it on a conference he put on in Africa. Similarly, the referee found that Attorney Ifediora converted the $6,000 interest payment to his personal use and never provided O.A. with an accounting.

The referee also found that Attorney Ifediora practiced law after his license had been administratively suspended. The referee noted that throughout 2017 and into 2018, Attorney Ifediora was still using his law office letterhead in communications with O.A.

Sanction

The seriousness of that misconduct demonstrates that his license to practice law must be revoked to protect the public, courts, and the legal system from the repetition of the misconduct; to impress upon Attorney Ifediora the seriousness of his misconduct; and to deter other attorneys from engaging in similar misconduct. As is our usual custom, we further agree with the referee’s recommendation that Attorney Ifediora pay the full costs of this proceeding.

(Mike Frisch)