Both Sides Now

A three-month suspension was imposed by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The Disciplinary Review Board letter decision noted bookkeeping issues and

Additionally, during respondent’s demand audit, he revealed that his wife, Carol Orlovsky, along with her business partners, had made mortgage loans to four of respondent’s real estate clients: Kevin and Patricia Lighter, Michael Sassman, and Woolf Services LLC.

Respondent admitted that his firm received the loan proceeds from Carol and her partners and held those funds in trust, in his firm’s ATA, for the respective real estate transactions. According to respondent, Carol entered into each loan transaction using her own funds and respondent made no monetary contribution toward them.

However, respondent admitted that he had concurrently represented (1) Carol and her business partners in the loan transactions, and (2) firm clients in the underlying real estate transactions. Respondent acknowledged that a conflict could arise in representing both his wife, as the lender, and his firm clients, as the borrowers, and conceded that conflict waivers were required for those representations. Indeed, conflict waivers were executed in four of the seven transactions; however, respondent admittedly failed to timely obtain even those waivers.

(Mike Frisch)