No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Georgia Supreme Court has ordered a 12-month suspension of an attorney convicted of wire fraud, notwithstanding the fact that the attorney had failed to report his 2007 conviction.

The facts

Early in his career, [the attorney] served as counsel to Governor Joe Frank Harris, was employed as an associate at a large Atlanta law firm, and worked for the United States Government. He later moved to academia, teaching at several colleges and universities. Since joining academia, [He] has maintained only a limited law practice, occasionally helping acquaintances on a pro bono basis and doing some estate planning and business law work.

In 2003, while employed as a teacher, [he] offered to help a student find financing for a film project. As [he] researched ways in which to raise capital for the project, he learned of an investment program that involved medium-term, high-yield notes. In his research, he did not learn anything unfavorable about this investment program, and he apparently believed that the program was a legitimate one. He agreed to present the investment program to potential investors. As it turned out, however, the investment program was a scam, and the potential investors to whom he presented it were agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The court cited the federal prosecutor’s statement that the attorney was unaware of the scam as a mitigating factor. Further, he had ceased to practice after the conviction. (Mike Frisch)