In a perfect world, all attorneys would have integrity and all client’s would be able to trust their attorneys. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Nonetheless , It is always shocking when attorneys violate the client trust and steal money that they hold in trust.
This appears to have happened in a couple of recent cases in Michigan. For example, on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, St. Clair Shores attorney Robert Buschmohle, 39, was arraigned on charges that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a college trust fund set up for two teens by their late father. The article in the Macomb Daily can be found here. The arraignment took place in the 37th District Court in front of Judge John Chmura, who set bond at $100,000 and ordered that Buschmohle surrender his passport and remain in Michigan.
According to prosecutors Buschmohle was the sole trustee of the fund set up by Derek Tate, shortly before his death in 2007, for his two teen sons Stephen and Keith. Prosecutors accuse Buschmohle of writing checks to himself from the trust fund over the course of four years, stealing in total $389,000. Derek Tate reportedly entrusted the fund to Buschmohle because Tate was a business associate of Buschmohle’s father.
Mossop tried to contact Buschmohle about fund – received no response
Ilona Mossop, the mother of the young men and the ex-wife of Derek Tate, stated that suspicions of mismanagement began in late 2011 shortly before Stephen Tate would have become old enough to receive payments from the trust. Mossop tried to contact Buschmohle about the fund but received no response. She then complained to the Attorney Grievance Commission, who in turn notified police.
It is not known yet how Buschmohle spent the money. Buschmohle faces disbarment and up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Meanwhile, a Lansing attorney, Mark Canady, 51, was recently arraigned on embezzlement charges and has waived his right to pre-trial hearing on the evidence. The case centers around the accusation that Canady took funds from an account set up for a young boy after his father died in a car accident. If convicted Canady may face up to ten years in prison.
According to the Lansing State Journal, Mark Canady was retained in 2009 in a wrongful death suit after the aforementioned car crash. Canady was able to win $75,000 in the suit, with about $45,000 set aside in an account for the boy. Allegedly, the entire account was drained by Mr. Canady and used for expenses such as utility payments and hotel rooms.
Canady was fired by the family that retained him in mid-2011; later a grievance was submitted to the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. Canady was already serving a suspension of his law license for probation violations in an unrelated case. According to Discipline Board records Canady failed to show for any of the hearings related to his grievance. He was disbarred on December 27th of last year and ordered by the board to pay $50,000 in restitution. Canady has also failed to appear at hearings related to his embezzlement charge. As a result he was found in contempt of court and last May placed in Oakland County Jail for a month. The Lansing State Journal article can be found here.
The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission is appropriately hard on attorneys who steal from their clients. Unfortunately, in many instances the intervention is too late to help clients who have had their funds embezzled.