Broward lawyer won over $300,000 for clients. Why is he charged with theft and fraud?
Former Davie attorney Bradley Douglas gave up his law license in 2018 after his personal injury clients complained to the Florida Bar that he withheld over $328,000 in settlement funds he owed them.
Now, for the same reason, prosecutors want to take Douglas’ freedom.
Over two cases, the Broward State Attorney’s Office has charged Douglas, 43, with one count of organized fraud, one count of first-degree grand theft, two counts of second-degree grand theft, and 10 counts of third-degree grand theft. Prosecutors put the amount Douglas kept for himself at $312,000 from 13 clients between August 2016 and March 2018.
Douglas, represented by attorney Michael Gottlieb, according to online court records, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Douglas made his clients’ complaints go away as far as his law license was concerned by applying for disciplinary revocation with the Bar. The complaints disappear, and so does his law license for at least five years. It’s similar to disbarment, except the attorney usually gets the right to apply for readmission after five years.
While this was happening in May 2018, law enforcement detectives were months into a financial investigation of Douglas. A probable cause affidavit says a Davie police detective found that after getting a $175,000 settlement, Douglas gave the client the runaround instead of the client’s part of the settlement, $155,750.
Meanwhile, the Davie detective found, Douglas transferred $62,262 from his firm’s trust account to an account that appeared intended for personal use, a mixing of funds that’s a major ethical sin. The detective saw “large cash withdrawals” from the personal account at places such as West Marine, Marlins Park and Massage Envy.
But no payments from either account went to the clients.
“Some of the victims could not afford to buy food or cover other basic expenses because they had been injured and desperately needed the settlement money, the investigations found,” the Broward State Attorney’s Office said.
Douglas is free on bond, and wearing an ankle monitor.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
