Lawyer admits theft of $4M

By Alan Cooper
Published: April 20, 2009

A Franklin attorney who practiced law for more than 50 years has surrendered his license after admitting that he took more than $4 million from an estate for which he was the executor.

The admission came last month in an appearance by J. Edward Moyler Jr. before Judge Designate William C. Andrews III in Southampton County Circuit Court.

E. Beale Carter Jr., an assistant commissioner of accounts, reported then that Moyler “has breached his fiduciary duties by taking excessive commissions, attorney fees and loans” from the estate of Lucille K. Steinhardt, who died in October 2000 at the age of 101.

Andrews entered judgment against Moyler in favor of the estate for $4,072,363.

Moyler acknowledged at the same proceeding that he took money from three other estates, and Andrews entered judgment against him for $175,946 in favor of those estates.

After Virginia State Bar Counsel Edward L. Davis learned of the admissions and his office filed a petition for an expedited hearing to revoke Moyler’s license to practice law, Moyler consented to a revocation order entered Monday.

The petition alleges that an accounting indicates that “beginning in June of 2001 and continuing until April of 2005 Moyler … loaned himself the bulk of the Steinhardt Estate, in excess of $4,000,000.… Moyler used those funds for his own purposes [and] has no ability to repay the Steinhardt Estate.”

The estate still has a little less than $200,000, according to the documents.

Carter and John T. Randall, who was appointed administrator of the estates, did not respond immediately to telephone messages, and Southampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric A. Cooke was out of the office last week and unavailable for comment.

Sources familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified because, as one of them put it, “this is a closely knit community,” said Steinhardt was a member of a prominent Southampton family who had operated a hardware store and other enterprises.

She died without heirs and left bequests to a nurse and others who had worked for her. Moyler paid those amounts promptly but did not make payments to the residuary beneficiaries, the University of Richmond, the Franklin Fire and Rescue Squad and the Southampton Memorial Hospital, the sources said.

The sources said Moyler told Andrews at the hearing last month that most of the money went to bad business investments, including a motel in North Carolina.

He and his wife filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in October, listing their $599,000 home in Franklin as their only substantial asset. The home was secured by a $500,000 mortgage, and the mortgage holder took the property.

Moyler listed $4,236,374 in liabilities, including the mortgage and a $2 million legal malpractice claim. Liabilities included more than $150,000 in credit card debt, and what appeared to be personal loans from more than a dozen individuals. The schedules do not have any reference to the thefts from the estates.

He was granted relief from those debts on Jan. 26.

One source described Moyler as “the silk stocking lawyer in Franklin” who “represented the upper crust of Franklin society” and handled “lots of estate work.” He said Moyler is about 80 years old and in poor health.

His father was a lawyer, and he practiced with the firm of Moyler, Rainey & Cobb PLC during the time of the thefts. The firm’s offices were heavily damaged by the 1999 flood in Franklin, but the sources said the firm restructured after the disaster so that each member of the firm practiced through a separate limited liability corporation.

One of the partners, James E. Rainey, is the commissioner of accounts for Southampton County, but the source said an assistant commissioner was appointed to monitor the estates for which Moyler was executor or administrator so there would be no conflict of interest.

The firm disbanded in October, the sources said.

They said Moyler’s financial difficulties apparently began after he and his law partners sold the cable television franchise they had started in the 1980s.

His investments in motel properties turned sour, and many in the community were aware that he had borrowed money from individuals before he filed for bankruptcy, the sources said.

Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Lawyer admits theft of $4M

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