When Chutzpah Is A Crime

A Washington State conviction led to automatic disbarment in New York.

The Second Department

On February 25, 2016, the respondent was convicted, upon a jury verdict, in Superior Court, King County, State of Washington, of, inter alia, theft in the first degree, in violation of Revised Code of Washington (hereinafter RCW) 9A.56.030(1)(a) and 9A.56.020(1). The respondent was charged in the First Amended Information with intentionally depriving, from June 17, 2014, to June 20, 2014, Desh International Law of United States currency in an amount exceeding $5,000. The jury found that the crime was a major economic offense, and that the respondent demonstrated an egregious lack of remorse. He was sentenced to 90 days of incarceration, of which 30 days were converted to 240 hours of community service. Restitution was to be determined at a future date. He was directed to pay a victim penalty assessment of $500 and a DNA collection fee of $100. In addition, a 10-year order of protection was issued against him in favor of the victims.

The conviction was “essentially similar” to a New York felony

A person is guilty of theft in the first degree under RCW 9A.56.030(1)(a) if he or she commits theft of “[p]roperty or services which exceed(s) five thousand dollars in value,” a class B felony. The Washington offense of theft in the first degree is “essentially similar” to the New York offense of grand larceny in the third degree, in violation of Penal Law § 155.35, a class D felony, which provides: “A person is guilty of grand larceny in the third degree when he or she steals [*2]property and . . . when the value of the property exceeds three thousand dollars.”

The Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District now moves to strike the respondent’s name from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law based on his conviction of a felony. Although served with a copy of the motion on June 13, 2016, the respondent has neither submitted a response nor requested additional time in which to do so.

By virtue of his felony conviction, the respondent was automatically disbarred and ceased to be an attorney pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(a).

Seattle.pi reported on the crimes

Philip Kong was convicted at trial of felony theft and barratry – practicing law without a license – after he stole $10,000 from a Bellevue law firm before walking off the job. Kong, 45, had claimed the allegations were groundless; a King County jury disagreed and convicted him while finding him to be exceptionally remorseless.

In a lengthy correspondence with seattlepi.com following an earlier story on the allegations against him, Kong assailed police and prosecutors for pursuing a criminal case against him. Kong claimed the money was an advance to which his boss at Desh International & Business Law had agreed.

At worst,” Kong said in July, “someone could accuse me of chutzpah, but nothing more.”

King County Superior Court Judge Laura Inveen sentenced Kong Wednesday to 60 days of electronic home detention as well as 30 days of community service. He was also placed on probation for two years.

Kong was charged in April on allegations stemming from his brief tenure at Desh Law, a small firm specializing in corporate and international law.

Kong had been serving as an “entrepreneur-in-residence” with a University of Washington business-outreach program, CoMotion. Kong said he separated from the university after the charge against him was publicized. He had also been involved in several health-oriented startup efforts in Seattle.

Kong went to work at Desh Law in 2013. His sole client was DF/Net, a Seattle firm that had hired Desh Law to facilitate the acquisition of a Canadian company.

Kong was not licensed to practice law in Washington. He said he has applied for admission to the Washington bar. Records show the Harvard Law graduate has been admitted to the bar in Massachusetts and New York.

At issue was a $17,000 check written by DF/Net managers to Kong in payment for services Desh Law provided. Court records indicate Kong was entitled to 40 percent of that payment as compensation. Kong contended he took the remainder – $10,200 – after reaching a compensation agreement with his employer.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Hinds said Kong’s theft was only possible because his clients trusted him as their attorney. The DF/Net managers working with Kong found his request that they pay him directly “odd” and “unusual,” Hinds said, but they wrote it anyway.

“The only reason that they were ultimately willing to do what the defendant asked was that he was ‘their attorney’ and they felt compelled to trust him as a result,” the prosecutor said in court papers

Charging papers indicate Kong deposited the $17,000 check on June 17, 2014, two weeks before he quit. Writing in court papers, a Bellevue detective said Kong read his resignation letter aloud during a staff meeting, taking his colleagues by surprise.

Managing partner Pradnya Desh went to the police in mid-July 2014 with claims that Kong had stolen from her firm. A detective interviewed her and DF/Net managers before arresting Kong on July 31 at another Bellevue law office where he’d gone to work.

Describing his interview with police as an “inquisition,” Kong contended Desh violated a mutual release agreement inked when he left the firm when she went to police. Kong said his rights have been violated and that he would perform his “Lincoln-ian duty” by proving the allegations are false and malicious.

Returning a verdict Feb. 25, a jury convicted Kong on all counts. Importantly for the prosecution, jurors also found that Kong’s crimes and his “egregious lack of remorse” qualified him for an exceptionally stiff penalty. Kong has not been jailed in the matter.

(Mike Frisch)