A dishonest former lawyer from the D.C. suburbs was exposed when he was cheated by one of those all-too-common e-mail scams, authorities say.
Bradley Schwartz of Rockville, Md., reportedly took the bait when he was asked to help an “Asian” client collect funds. When a big cashier’s check arrived, he deposited it and started making payments, unmindful of warnings about similar scams published around the country. Of course, the check was bogus.
As The Washington Post reports, investigation of the phony check led to questions about Schwartz’ trust account. Schwartz apparently relied on funds from the bad check to pay settlements to OTHER clients, possibly covering for past defalcations.
Prosecutors say Schwartz stole $1.56 million from 21 clients over three years.
Schwartz was disbarred last year. His sentencing is set for August 23.
By Peter Vieth
1 response so far ↓
1 lumsden // Jun 28, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Here you go again, what goes around comes around. I’m not crying, You? Karma, gets you in the end.