Consent Disposition Approved

A District of Columbia Hearing Committee has approved a negotiated sanction of a stayed 30 day suspension with conditions for an attorney’s violation of a court order in his own divorce and delayed response to the bar investigation

On March 13, 2020, the [Virginia]  court held Respondent in contempt. The court found that Respondent had willfully and knowingly violated the final order of divorce and entered a judgment against Respondent in favor of Ms. Crane in the amount of $192,999.32. The court set purge terms, which required Respondent to pay the judgement within 180 days of the order.

He had appealed the order

On February 2, 2021, the Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the lower court’s decision. The appellate court found that Respondent was properly served with the motion to show cause, that the evidence was sufficient to find him in willful contempt of court, and that the lower court did not err in imposing sanctions or awarding Ms. Crane attorney’s fees based on Respondent’s failure to abide by the divorce order and appear in the lower court proceedings.

Failure to respond to bar investigation

On September 10, 2024, Respondent responded to Disciplinary Counsel’s email about proposed hearing dates. In his
email, Respondent explained that his mail service in Saudi Arabia is unreliable, and he never received any of the packages sent by Disciplinary Counsel. He also stated that while crane_tj@yahoo.com is an active email address, it is no longer his primary email address, and he does not check it regularly. He explained that Disciplinary Counsel’s emails ended up in the spam folder and were automatically deleted after 30 days. Respondent took full responsibility for the issues related to both his mail service and email, and he acknowledged that it is his responsibility to ensure the D.C. Bar and Disciplinary Counsel can contact him.

Agreed sanction

Respondent and Disciplinary Counsel have agreed that the sanction in this matter should be a thirty (30) day suspension, fully stayed on the condition that Respondent be placed on probation for one year. Pet. at 11; Tr. 26-27. Respondent understands that as conditions of this negotiated disposition and period of probation, he will be required to:
a) update his contact information with D.C. Bar Member Services to include a current email address that he checks regularly and a phone number at which he can be reliably reached (these updates shall be made within thirty days of the negotiated discipline being accepted by the Court, if not earlier, and Respondent will provide proof of the updates to Disciplinary Counsel), and
b) comply with the terms of the Spousal Support Modification Order issued by the Circuit Court for the County of Fairfax on July 22, 2021, and during the probationary period, proof of compliance will be sent to Disciplinary Counsel no later than the fifth day of each month.

See Pet. at 11-12; Tr. 27-29. Respondent additionally understands that if he fails to comply with the terms of his probation, his probation may be revoked and he may be required to serve the thirty-day suspension previously stayed, consecutively with any other discipline or suspension that may be imposed in the event of a finding that he engaged in further unethical conduct.

The Hearing Committee found the sanction appropriate.

The Court of Appeals must review and approve or disapprove the proposed disposition. (Mike Frisch)