Former Judge Ann Lokuta Still Fighting for Justice

Describing former judge Michael Conahan as a “malevolent sociopath who raped the judicial system,” attorneys for former judge Ann Lokuta have once again called upon the state Supreme Court to overturn a disciplinary court’s decision that removed her from office.

In a 78-page legal brief filed Monday, Lokuta contends the state Court of Judicial Discipline committed numerous errors during her misconduct trial, including putting far too much faith in the testimony of Conahan and others she claims he unduly influenced.

Those errors were compounded by prosecutorial misconduct she alleges was committed by attorneys for the Judicial Conduct Board, whom she contends intentionally ignored a misconduct complaint filed against Conahan in order to protect the integrity of his testimony against her.

The brief, filed by attorneys George Michak and Ronald Santora, is the latest legal challenge Lokuta has filed in her contentious, two-year battle to reverse the Court of Judicial Discipline’s December 2008 ruling that ousted her from office.

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Former Judge Ann Lokuta Appeals Removal From Office to State Supreme Court

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Read Lokuta’s Appeal

Ex-Lawyer Jessica Miller Gets Jail for Theft

Last month, Pasco-Pinellas County Judge Michael Andrews told former lawyer Jessica Miller that it might behoove her to bring money to her sentencing to get ahead on resitution payments.

Miller, who had pleaded guilty to stealing from ehr fromer clients owes them about $70,000.

Miller, 32, obliged the judge, showing up at sentencing with $250 she made at a garage sale. The token offer did not persuade Anderews to grant Miller’s pleas for a probation-only sentence.

Instead, the judge sentenced her to 54 months in prison, followed by 10 years of probation.

“It’s fair to say I always thought you were a pretty good lawyer,” Andrews said. “I’m sad to see you in this position, but you broke the public’s trust. Your actions were reckless. You acted with impunity and without regard for your clients, and they are entitled to justice.”

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Former Laywer Gets Jail for Theft

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Ex-Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Clients

Atty Accused of Plotting to Bilk Elderly Widows Out of Tens of Millions

An attorney who is trying to persuade city and county leaders to back his plans for a $1.5 billion development that would transform the downtown area masterminded a plot to bilk two elderly widows out of tens of millions of dollars, according to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

In a lawsuit that now takes up 64 overstuffed file folders in the county courthouse, attorney Michael Masanoff is accused of working both sides of a real estate deal to help steal a problem-plagued cemetery in Boca Raton from the widows. Further, the widows’ attorney claims, Masanoff lied under oath about his misdeeds.

If he can persuade a judge to let him use a confidential memo, attorney Edward Ricci said he will seek criminal charges against Masanoff for perjury. He also will ask the Florida Bar to take action against Masanoff.

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Leader of Palm Beach County Building Effort Accused of Bilking Widows

Activist Calls for Probe of PA Judicial Conduct Board

A self-styled citizen activist is pushing prosecutors to probe the state Judicial Conduct Board for obstruction of justice in its handling of misconduct allegations against former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan.

Gene Stilp urged the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the state Attorney General’s Office to launch separate investigations into the deliberations and decision making that led the conduct board to ignore allegations Conahan engaged in nepotism, cronyism and case-fixing.

“If the federal investigators found corrupt judges in Luzerne County, why would it be any surprise to find corrupt judges on the Judicial Conduct Board?” Stilp said. “The Judicial Conduct Board cannot investigate itself, and the actions of the Judicial Conduct Board have obstruction of justice written all over it.”

Stilp, a Wilkes-Barre native living in Harrisburg, filed the state Supreme Court case overturning the 2005 legislative pay raise that sparked public outrage. He was the original complainant in the so-called “Bonusgate” scandal that has led to charges against nearly two dozen people in state government. Many might recognize him from the times he brings a giant inflatable pig with him to protest government abuse and waste.

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<a href="
http://apps.grouptivity.com/socialmail/main.do?uId=724008&tId=581821&pk=473898451985&acn=zj!d9&pId=i03BLo94l6Q=&acn=zj!d9″>Story from Citizens Voice: Activist Calls for Probe of Judicial Conduct Board

Kim Rothstein Vacates ‘Palace’

Kim Rothstein has left the building.

Well, almost.

​Rothstein attorney Scott Saidel told me that the bride of the Ponzi schemer has moved everything out of their palatial estate off Las Olas Boulevard. He said she is living with family and friends now, though she might spend one night a week in what she described a few months ago as a “tomb.”

“It’s empty, it’s a shell, and it’s depressing,” Saidel said of the former Casa de Rothstein. “She’s almost completely out of the house.”

Kim’s life has been further complicated, Saidel said, by the bankruptcy court’s dogging of her for all of the marvelous things she bought on Broward’s big swindler’s dime since 2006.

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Kim Rothstein Packed Out of Palace, Hounded For Shoes

Lawyer/Pastor Accused of Felony Theft

Accused of taking money from the trust fund accounts of residents with disabilities in his group homes, Ernest M. Beal Jr. stood trial in Allen Superior Court.

Beal, 56, is chief operating officer of Your Friends and Neighbors, a company that runs group homes in Indiana and Georgia for adults with developmental impairments. Last June, he was charged with felony theft, accused of ordering company officials to take money from the clients’ trust funds to make payroll and other operating expenses.

The trust fund holds money from clients’ Social Security benefit checks, paychecks and other income and is meant to pay for the expenses and care of the residents, according to court documents.

Beal, a lawyer, is also pastor of Faith United Church of Christ in Fort Wayne.

During opening statements, Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tim McCaulay said Beal “borrowed” from the clients multiple times over a 3 1/2 -year period. Beal and his ex-wife, the company’s chief executive officer, each drew a salary of more than $300,000, he said.

McCaulay characterized the case as one of arrogance, greed and the avoidance of truth.

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Pastor-Lawyer Facing Theft Trial, Accused of Raids on Trust Funds for Group Homes

Protective Custody Hinders Rothstein Case

Scott Rothstein’s attorney says it isn’t easy seeing his client. The South Florida Ponzi king is in protective custody at an undisclosed location after helping prosecutors nab an alleged Sicilian Mafioso.

Marc Nurik, Rothstein’s defense attorney and former partner, said he has to make special appointments with the U.S. Marshals Service to see Rothstein and can’t get legal documents to him easily.

U.S. District Judge James Cohn noted inactivity in the case with sentencing set for May 6 and prompted attorneys on both sides Wednesday by setting an April 30 deadline to file sentencing memoranda. Nurik quickly responded with a request to delay sentencing, and the Fort Lauderdale judge reset it for June 9.

Others in the South Florida legal community warn against treating the date as a certainty for determining whether Rothstein will spend the rest of his life in prison for masterminding a $1.2 billion scam, the largest in Florida history.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has a lot riding on keeping Rothstein under wraps, attorneys say.

He knows where all the bodies are buried, whom he duped and who may have cooperated with him in bilking investors in his lawsuit settlement financing scheme.

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Rothstein Lawyer Says Protective Custody Hinders Case, Requests Sentencing Delay

Lawyer Sentenced to 30 Years

Troy A. Titus, 43, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating multiple fraud schemes to steal and misappropriate almost $10 million from clients and investors.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and A.J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

“People trusted Troy Titus as an advisor and lawyer, and he swindled dozens of victims out of millions,” U.S. Attorney MacBride said. “We hope this 30-year sentence will send a clear message that those who engage in financial fraud will face severe consequences.

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Virginia Lawyer Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Massive Real Estate Investment Scam

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Disbarred, Disgraced, and Going to Federal Prison for 30 Years

Whistleblower Lawsuits Filed Against Malcomb County Judges

The former administrator of Macomb County Probate Court has filed whistleblower lawsuits, claiming he was fired because he told state investigators about a judge’s alleged wrongdoing.

Donald Housey, who was removed as court administrator in January, claims in suits filed recently in federal court and Macomb Circuit Court that Probate Judge Kathryn George and Chief Probate Judge Mark Switalski retaliated against him. Housey’s suits claim the retaliation occurred because he cooperated with investigations by the State Court Administrator’s Office and the Judicial Tenure Commission into George’s handling of cases, along with allegations of her excessive absences from the bench.

“This is a man who’s been wronged, and we’re trying to right the wrong,” Housey’s attorney Kathleen Bogas said.

Bogas filed Housey’s lawsuits in both U.S. District Court and Macomb Circuit Court. “The federal court doesn’t have jurisdiction over probate court, so we filed the whistleblower claims in both courts,” she said.

The federal court filing also claims Switalski and George violated Housey’s freedom of speech by retaliating against him for cooperating with the state investigations.

Chief Macomb Circuit Court Judge Pro Tem Diane Druzinski called the lawsuits “unfortunate,” adding, “The facts will ultimately speak for themselves.”

In addition to the alleged firing of Housey for providing information to the Judicial Tenure Commission, the lawsuits claim George retaliated against Housey by “publicly degrading and harassing” and “wrongfully reprimanding” him because he cooperated with a 2008 investigation by the State Court Administrator’s Office.

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<a href="
http://detnews.com/article/20100418/METRO/4180303/Former-Macomb-court-administrator-sues-over-firing”>Former Macomb Court Adminstrator Sues Over Firing

Disbarred, Disgraced, and Going to Federal Prison for 30 Years

Disbarred and disgraced attorney Troy A. Titus was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for defrauding clients and friends out of more than $8 million, money a judge said the victims will never see again.

The 44-year-old father of six wept as he tried to explain himself before U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson and a courtroom filled with family and friends. Other than blaming his swelled pride, Titus was at a loss.

“I wish there was something I could do to explain it,” he said. “I guess I got to the point where I completely lost sight of reality.”

A federal jury in December convicted Titus of 33 felonies, finding that he had operated a Ponzi scheme that cost his victims around $8 million in losses. The government now says the total fraud amounted to nearly $12 million.

Calling Titus “an economic sociopath,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Moore asked the judge to put Titus behind bars for the rest of his life. While the judge did not do that, Titus will be well past retirement age when he is released, unless he wins his appeal.

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Disbarred Attorney Sentenced to 30 Years for Fraud