Quote Originally Posted by Jayjami View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post

It seemed to be more than that. I agree that it seemed to have vastly increased in recent years, but he stole way too much and too often for it to be a "scamming to get by" situation.

It's rare that someone goes from honest attorney to a serial multimillion dollar scammer abruptly. Clearly this guy was always shady.
The guy is also arrogant and stupid. You never mess with you client’s money. It goes into a trust account. When you are investigated by the state bar on a client complaint (yes it’s happened to me), the first thing they do is request all your client trust account bank statements, regardless of the nature of the allegation. Any discrepancies will result in, at minimum, a suspension, if not disbarment.
Does California have a special fund to compensate the victims of their lawyer’s misuse of their money? I know Maryland has one, but the fund is not unlimited, and apparently is funded by annual fees lawyers pay to maintain their ability to practice law there.