from staff
The Florida Bar, the state’s guardian for the integrity of the legal profession, recently announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 29 attorneys, disbarring eight, suspending 13, suspending two on an emergency basis, placing three on probation and reprimanding five. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline.
None of the attorneys are from the Jacksonville area while a majority of those disciplined are from South Florida. Several are from out of state.
Since Aug. 1, case files have been posted to attorneys’ individual Florida Bar profiles and may be reviewed at and/or downloaded from the Bar’s Web site, www.floridabar.org. The following lawyers are disciplined:
• Marie Gilberte Thompson, 11950 W. Dixie Highway, Miami, disbarred effective 30 days from an Oct. 18 court order. Thompson failed to comply with a subpoena for her trust account records. Records of a real estate transaction obtained from third parties showed that she received nearly $821,000 for payment of a mortgage loan. She failed to apply the trust funds to the specific purpose of paying off the mortgage and had insufficient funds to do so.
• Ruben Torrence Thompson, 11950 W. Dixie Highway, Miami, disbarred effective 30 days from an Oct. 18 court order. Thompson failed to comply with a subpoena for his trust account records. Records of a real estate transaction obtained from third parties showed that he received nearly $821,000 for payment of a mortgage loan. He failed to apply the trust funds to the specific purpose of paying off the mortgage and had insufficient funds to do so.
• Valerie M. Velella, 609 N.W. 8th St., Dania Beach, disbarred, effective immediately, pursuant to an Oct. 23 court order. In May 2007, Velella was suspended for 18 months, retroactive to Oct. 20, 2006. In August 2007, a sworn complaint was filed alleging that Velella was continuing to practice law with a suspended license. The Bar found that she was falsely holding herself out to the public as eligible to practice law.
• Richard Charles Bagdasarian, 1800 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Suite 302, Boca Raton, disbarred, effective 30 days from an Oct. 25 court order. Bagdasarian misappropriated client funds totaling more than $1.17 million from about 41 different clients and made material misrepresentations to his clients to conceal his misappropriation and conversion to his own use of the funds.
• Angelo Cappelli, 1100 N. Shore Drive, N.E., Apt. 402, St. Petersburg, disbarred, effective 30 days from an Oct. 25 court order. Cappelli was a trust officer in a bank and without the knowledge of or authorization from the bank opened an estate using a summary probate procedure. He then used his position to gain access to about $100,000 from a deceased customer’s estate and used about $75,000 of the funds.
• Richard Joseph Da Fonte, P.O. Box 6047, Clearwater, disbarred effective 30 days from an Oct. 18 court order. Da Fonte served as the closing agent in one real estate transaction and represented the buyer as well as acted as closing agent and escrow agent in another. In one instance, funds were diverted that were intended to pay off two pre-existing mortgages. In the other, Da Fonte failed to tell his client or the bank making the loan that the closing had not occurred. When the bank learned that the transaction had not closed, Da Fonte failed to account for the loan proceeds and to return them to the bank.
• Albert Scott Lagano, P.O. Box 897, Melbourne, disbarred for 10 years, effective immediately, pursuant to an Oct. 18 court order. Lagano was found guilty of five counts related to trust fund shortages and the commingling of trust funds and operating funds of a number of clients. An audit found that, between August 2005 and November 2006, Lagano withdrew cash from his trust account or transferred to his office account a total of more than $1 million. He failed to maintain trust account records supporting these withdrawals and transfers.
• Peter Malo, 2177 31st St., Astoria, N.Y., disbarred effective 30 days from an Oct. 18 court order. In August 2001, Malo was disbarred by the New York state bar based on charges of commingling and misappropriation of client funds or property.
• Alexander Osondu Akpodiete, P.O. Box 578, Grayson, Ga., suspended, until further order of the court, effective 30 days from an Oct. 23 court order. Akpodiete failed to pay court-ordered restitution and was held in contempt of court.
• Richard Lee Buckle, 442 Old Main St., Bradenton, suspended for 30 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 18 court order. Buckle also was directed to attend The Florida Bar Ethics School, Professionalism Workshop and Trust Accounting Workshop. Buckle failed to timely respond to the Bar in writing in two matters and failed to respond to a subpoena for trust account records.
• Marc Francis Desiderio, 3100 N. Ocean Blvd., Apt. 1710, Ft. Lauderdale, suspended, effective 30 days from an Oct. 22 court order. The case has been referred to the chief judge of the 15th Judicial Circuit for the appointment of a referee. On Sept. 28 Desiderio was found guilty in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to commit money laundering, a felony. He was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment, followed by two years’ probation and a fine of $75,000.
• Chandra Parker Doucette, 621 N.W. 53rd St., Suite 240, Boca Raton, suspended, effective 30 days from an Oct. 22 court order. Doucette was found in contempt of court for her failure to respond to subpoena issued by the Court, which ordered her to provide mandatory trust account records.
• Glenn Erikson, 839 S. Newport Ave., Tampa, suspended, effective 30 days from an Oct. 10 court order. The case has been referred to the chief judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit for the appointment of a referee. In July 2006, Erikson pled guilty and was adjudicated guilty on a felony count of wire fraud.
• Doreen M. Goldbronn, 2706 Alt. Highway 19, Suite 310, Palm Harbor, suspended for 60 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 11 court order. In March 1996, Goldbronn sent a letter to several clients recommending that they invest in a company she believed was a State of Florida-guaranteed investment program involved in environmental clean-up. The investment was to be for 14 months with a 12-15 percent return. Although she did not have the appropriate license, Goldbronn shared a commission in the transaction with a licensed broker. It was later determined that the company was involved in the purchase, rehabilitation and selling of cars and that there was no guarantee against losses. At a hearing to determine sanctions to be imposed against her, Goldbronn said that her conduct was a one-time negligent occurrence and not a scam or pattern. She said that when she learned the real nature of the investment she immediately negotiated a return to the client of her entire $40,000 investment. However, the client opted to leave all of the funds invested and later lost them. She subsequently paid in full a negotiated settlement with her client and allowed her securities license to lapse.
• Edward Ritter Jonas, III, 89 Farnham E., Deerfield Beach, suspended for one year, effective 30 days from an Oct. 10 court order. Jonas was found guilty by the New Jersey Bar of (1) conduct intended to disrupt a tribunal and (2) conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in connection with his divorce from his wife, disposition of assets and child custody proceedings. His license was revoked. The Florida Supreme Court upheld only the first charge.
• Joshua Asher Levy, 1508 Bay Rd., Apt. 1143, Miami Beach, suspended for 90 days, effective immediately, pursuant to an Oct. 25 court order. Levy also is required to initiate an evaluation by Florida Lawyers Assistance Inc. In October 2006, Levy was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance. He subsequently entered the drug court program.
• Louis Richard Montello, Jr., 777 Brickell Ave., Suite 1070, Miami, suspended for 45 days, effective 30 days from an Oct. 25 court order. Montello failed to timely file his federal income tax returns from 1999 through 2001 and plead guilty in federal district court to three misdemeanor counts. He received a sentence of probation with 10 months of home confinement.
• Joey Dean Oquist, 1135 9th St. N., St. Petersburg, suspended for two years, effective 30 days from an Oct. 11 court order. A bar auditor found evidence of shortages in Oquist’s trust account. It was determined that he failed to maintain the required cash receipts and disbursement journal and client ledger cards. He also held an award to a personal injury client for four months and transferred more than $3,400 from the trust account to his operating account as legal fees without obtaining the client’s signature on the settlement statement. When he issued a check to the client, the amount was net of the legal fees.
• Anthony Vincent Scalese, 14298 N.W. 23rd St., Pembroke Pines, suspended, until further order of the court, pursuant to an Oct. 23 court order. Scalese failed to produce trust fund records compelled by a subpoena issued in the course of a Bar investigation into the management of his trust account and was held in contempt of court.
• Loel Seitel, 220 Riverside Blvd., No. 74, New York, N.Y., suspended, effective 30 days from an Oct. 22 court order. Seitel was convicted in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to make a false statement, a felony, and was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment, two years’ probation and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. The case has been referred for the appointment of a referee to make a recommendation as to the final disposition of standing with the Bar.
• Kendrick Gerard Whittle, 19 W. Flagler St., Suite 707, Miami, the subject of an emergency suspension, pursuant to an Oct. 23 court order. Whittle failed to produce bank and trust records in response to a subpoena. However, bank records show that he issued checks to himself totaling nearly $298,000 from client funds and used them to pay other clients and for personal matters such as rent, credit cards, Gables Sports Cars and Saks 5th Avenue.
• Stephen Leonard Ziegler, 1401 E. Broward Blvd., Suite 200, Fort Lauderdale, suspended, effective 30 days from an Oct. 22 court order. Ziegler was found guilty in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a felony. He was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment, followed by three years’ probation and ordered to pay nearly $827,000 restitution.
• Michael T. Kovach, 105 N. Seminole Ave., Inverness, the subject of an emergency suspension, pursuant to an Oct. 31 court order. Kovach has failed to respond to three subpoenas commanding him to appear for a deposition and to produce trust account records. A Bar investigation indicated that he converted client funds from his trust account for his own personal purposes.
• Sherman Martin Brod, P.O. Box 18877, Tampa, reprimanded, pursuant to an Oct. 18 court order. Brod failed to disclose to the Bar that he was listed on corporate records filed with the Secretary of State as the “managing member” of two residential real estate companies in which his wife was a principal. The partners in the business, including Brod’s wife, received disbursements for “advance profits” from an investor loan. The person who made the loan lost more than $140,000 when the real estate market slowed. Brod himself received about $50,000 in fees for his transactional work for the company between 2002 and 2005.
• Sandra Cherfrere, P.O. Box 380962, Miami Shores, to receive a public reprimand to be administered by the Board of Governors, pursuant to an Oct. 18 court order. Cherfrere’s assistant failed to mail out a motion for continuance in an asylum proceeding. When she received notice of a deportation decision against her client, she immediately took steps to remedy the situation by filing a motion to reopen the asylum case and firing her assistant.
• Kenneth Kavanaugh, 500 W. Cypress Creek Rd., Suite 230, Fort Lauderdale, to receive a public reprimand from the Board of Governors, pursuant to an Oct. 11 court order. Kavanaugh failed to finalize a client’s application for a visa and failed to timely communicate with the client and/or to explain the reason for the delay in processing the application.
• Jeffrey Paul Manners, 11120 N. Kendall Dr., Suite 200, Miami, to receive a public reprimand administered by the Board of Governors, pursuant to an Oct. 25 court order and placed on two years probation. Manners deposited a check in an unrelated lawsuit award into his operating account rather than his trust account, causing a check written on the trust account to be returned for insufficient funds. A Bar review of Manners’ bank account records found no evidence of any malfeasance, but the auditor did find that he engaged in “sloppy accounting practices.”
• Elizabeth Cherylann Ramsey, 2247 S.E. Breckenridge Circle, Port St. Lucie, to receive a public reprimand to be administered by the Board of Governors, pursuant to an Oct. 25 court order and placed on probation for three years. She also must participate in Florida Lawyers Assistance Inc. In May 2006, Ramsey was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages and subsequently was adjudicated guilty on one misdemeanor count of DUI and sentenced to 12 months’ probation. In November 2006, Ramsey was arrested a second time for DUI with alcoholic beverages with a passenger younger than 18 and resisting an officer without violence. Her probation was revoked and she was sentenced to 52 days incarceration with credit for time served.
• Maria Teresa Rodriguez, P.O. Box 1155, Safety Harbor, placed on probation for 12 months to run consecutively to a previously imposed 24-month probationary period, pursuant to an Oct. 11 court order. Rodriguez was notified on March 2, 2006, that she had become a delinquent member of The Florida Bar by not completing her continuing legal education requirement in a timely manner. On March 24, 2006, she appeared in court on behalf of a client, which she was precluded from doing because of the delinquency. Rodriguez came under compliance and was reinstated by the Bar effective April 25, 2006. She said that she did not receive the written notice of her delinquency and would not have appeared in the courtroom had she known she was delinquent.