Blackmail, bank robbery, stealing from a special needs kid: bad South Florida lawyers
Before listing the seven South Florida attorneys that appear on the most recent Florida Bar report of attorneys disciplined by the state Supreme Court — including one who stole money meant for a child — a here’s quick legal term refresher.
“Misappropriated funds” is what most people call “stealing.”
“Disciplinary revocation” accepts disbarment for at least five years in a trade for the Bar discipline case going away. It does nothing to the criminal case. It can be applied for despite whether or not the person applies for readmission.
A “special needs trust,” specialneedsanswers.com says, is a trust “set up for a person with special needs to supplement any benefits the person with special needs may receive from government programs.”
The “referee” is the judge who hears the discipline case, decides guilt or innocence and makes a recommendation on consequences to the state Supreme Court.
In alphabetical order:
▪ Fort Lauderdale attorney Gerald Adams (admitted to practice in 1984) tried to pull an okeydoke on the state Supreme Court and got caught.
Adams got suspended for 91 days in 2018 after a referee found he’d charged a client for fixing what was his legal screwup; engaged in dishonest conduct regarding fees with another client; and, among other ethical shortcomings, lied to the Florida Bar.
Before his suspension started on Feb. 3, 2018, a Jan. 25 filing to the state showed Adams was no longer the managing member of the Florida Family Law Clinic. The new managing member doesn’t turn up as an attorney in the Florida Bar search.
“Attempting to circumvent the rules, Adams transferred ownership of the firm to his office manager (a non-lawyer) without the office manager’s knowledge,” the Florida Bar said. “Adams continued to advertise his legal services online under the guise of document preparation, offering to prepare legal documents/forms not approved by the Supreme Court of Florida for use by non-lawyers, which constitutes the unauthorized practice of law.”
Adams got disbarred on Wednesday.
▪ West Palm Beach attorney John Armstrong (admitted in 1979) took $5,000 to represent a client then, his guilty plea says, “took little or no significant action in the case.”
Armstrong got a public reprimand and needs to give the $5,000 back to the client by May 31.
▪ Four clients of Coral Gables attorney Chris Borgia (admitted in 2002) needed an attorney to help with Social Security disability benefits matters. What they didn’t need was someone who took their money and neglected their cases, as described in Borgia’s guilty plea.
After one client gave Borgia $299 to cover the future cost of obtaining medical records, his guilty plea said, he didn’t put the money in a trust account and “he did not use the funds for the intended purpose of purchasing medical records needed for the [Social Security Administration] claim. Although he promised to return the costs deposit to his client, he had not yet done so, even months into the pendency of the bar’s disciplinary investigation.”
Borgia’s 18-month suspension starts Saturday.
▪ You can find Miami attorney Aaron Honaker (admitted to the Bar in 2008) in downtown Miami, at the federal prison on the defendant side of the bars.
Honaker was arrested in October as the suspect in five attempted bank robberies from Coral Gables to Aventura. As far as his potential professional discipline, he reached for disciplinary revocation. He can reapply for admission in five years — if he’s out of federal prison.
▪ The Florida Bar says Boca Raton’s Colleen Huott (admitted in 2005) has gone ghost — not answering eight grievances filed against her. Though the Huott Law firm website remains up, a Miami Herald phone call to the number found it disconnected on Monday.
As of May 19, Huott’s suspended until she answers the Bar inquiries in writing.
▪ A referee’s report says after Jupiter’s Megan Kifer (admitted to the Bar in 2016) was hired as the attorney for a special needs trust that would provide for a client’s daughter, she “misappropriated” $8,194 from the trust. Kifer used “a multitude of debit card transactions and other electronic disbursements,” the referee said, to swipe the money for personal expenses, including rent.
Then, when the Bar auditor looking into the trust asked for documents, including a binder, Kifer said she sent them and sent two tracking numbers last July 7. But tracing the tracking numbers on July 20 revealed the labels with those tracking numbers had been created, but nothing with those labels had been sent.
The referee said Kifer never answered why she “misled” the Bar.
She’s been disbarred and owes the special needs trust $8,194.
▪ A client of Miami attorney Richard Williams (admitted to practice in 1973) had several accounts in a California bank. The client obtained inside information or claimed he obtained inside information, that could be very bad for the bank if it became public. They decided to blackmail the bank for $7.5 million.
Federal court charging documents stated Williams sent the bank a plan to hire his client so the extorted funds could be hidden in the payroll. They also claim Williams spoke several times with a bank representative, trying to work things through.
Prosecutors confidently made that claim because the bank rep was an undercover FBI agent. Williams has pleaded guilty in New Jersey federal court to conspiracy to transmit an interstate communication with intent to extort. That’s a long, legal way of saying “planning to blackmail someone over the phone.”
While Williams awaits his sentence as a criminal, he’s decided to go for disciplinary revocation with no chance to seek readmission. His time as an attorney will end May 15.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Blackmail, bank robbery, stealing from a special needs kid: bad South Florida lawyers."
