A Broward attorney received $1.4 million. What he did with it got him suspended
Following a client’s orders concerning $1.43 million got a Lighthouse Point attorney suspended for six months by the state Supreme Court.
The suspension of Richard Chosid, a Florida Bar member since months after coming out of Wayne State Law School in 1963, starts April 17. According to the Florida Bar, it’s the only disciplinary act against Chosid in the last 10 years.
As explained in his guilty plea for consent judgment, Chosid was the Paymaster in a deal involving his client, John Thompson, involving an “undisclosed amount of funds” that Thompson said he was due.
“A Paymaster attorney acts as a neutral third party to receive funds from any transaction between two separate individuals or businesses,” Tampa’s Blick Law Firm explains. “The Paymaster maintains an escrow account, then disburses those funds to the seller.”
Chosid’s guilty plea says he agreed to disburse the funds as Thompson directed. His fee would be 10%. When Chosid got the $1.43 million in his trust account, he disbursed the money in 38 transactions.
What Chosid didn’t know was “the funds were intended to secure a standby letter of credit for a third party.” So, Chosid “breached his fiduciary duty to the third party by failing to apprise himself of the intended purpose of the money” and doing with them as Thompson instructed.
This story was originally published March 6, 2023 at 11:36 AM.
