from staff
The Florida Bar recently announced that the Florida Supreme Court in recent court orders disciplined 28 attorneys, disbarring 10, suspending 16 and placing two on probation. Some attorneys received more than one form of discipline. Two attorneys were reprimanded. Two were ordered to pay restitution.
None of the attorneys disciplined are members of the Jacksonville Bar Association or from the Northeast Florida area.
The following lawyers are disciplined:
• Kendrick Gerard Whittle of Miami, disbarred effective retroactive to Oct. 23, 2007, following a Feb. 24 court order. In several instances, Whittle misappropriated client funds. He used approximately $297,781.73 to pay clients as well as personal bills including rent, utilities and credit cards.
• Nadege Elliott of Fort Lauderdale, disbarred, retroactive to Dec. 15, 2008, following a Jan. 30 court order. In three separate cases, Elliott provided incompetent representation, charged excessive fees and mishandled his trust accounts.
• Stephen Jay Goldstein of North Miami Beach, disbarred effective April 10, following a March 11 court order. Goldstein wrote checks from his trust and operating accounts in the amounts of $22,290, $527.83, $50,000 and $43,725. All were returned for insufficient funds.
• Christina Gomez of Gainesville, disbarred effective retroactive to Sept. 8, 2008, following an April 2 court order. Gomez participated in at least three fraudulent financial transactions, one of which resulted in her receiving approximately $835,000. Because she failed to provide all the required subpoenaed records, The Florida Bar has so far been unable to conduct a complete audit to determine the magnitude of fraud and misappropriation that may have occurred.
• Joseph Harrison of Boca Raton, disbarred for five years, effective 30 days from a March 20 court order. Harrison was further ordered to pay restitution totaling $90,800 to two clients. In at least three separate cases, Harrison charged excessive fees but provided no significant legal services. He deposited funds in his operating account instead of a trust account as required and knowingly made false statements to a third party.
• George Nicholas Konstantakis of Palm Beach, disbarred for five years, effective 30 days from a March 5 court order. He was further ordered to pay restitution of $26,680 to a client’s living revocable trust. In 2004, Konstantakis agreed to represent a client in civil proceedings. Thereafter, he failed to attend the hearings, show up for trial and communicate with the client. The client was unaware of the final judgment until she was served with an order of contempt in December 2006 for failure to provide financial information.
• Mark Lawrence of Miami, disbarred effective 30 days from the date of a March 5 court order. Lawrence admitted to failing to preserve and apply trust funds as required by Florida Bar rules; issuing checks from his trust account to pay his child support obligations; and engaging in dishonest conduct.
• Jerona Charmaine Maiyo of Orlando, disbarred effective immediately, following a March 26 court order. Maiyo failed to perform her duties as a lawyer. She accepted retainer fees from clients and did not perform work. In some instances, Maiyo abandoned the cases without giving notice. She did not inform The Florida Bar of her correct address, so at one point, all correspondence mailed to her was returned as being unclaimed and not forwardable. In December 2007, Maiyo was suspended for failure to complete her continuing legal education requirements.
• Gregory F. Pillon of Miami, disbarred effective retroactive to Sept. 12, 2007, following an April 2 court order. In May 2007, Pillon pleaded no contest to obtaining a mortgage by false representation, a felony. The plea agreement provided that Pillon would surrender his license to practice law.
• Richard Brian Simring of Miami Beach, disbarred effective retroactive to Sept. 9, 2008, following an April 2 court order. In July 2008, Simring pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering, a felony.
• James Harutun Batmasian of Boca Raton, suspended for three years, effective retroactive to Aug. 30, 2008, following a March 5 court order. In April 2008, Batmasian pleaded guilty in federal court, to one count of willful failure to collect or pay over tax, a felony. He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release and penalties of $30,000.
• Daniel Antonio Benito of Miami, suspended until further order, following a March 3 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Benito appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating and/or diverting client funds entrusted to him. In one instance, a client sent $80,000 to Benito to be held in trust for the purpose of funding a marital settlement agreement. When the settlement did not materialize, the client demanded the return of the funds and Benito refused, claiming he was entitled to them for attorney’s fees.
• Roger Besu of Miami Beach, suspended until further order, following a Feb. 5 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Besu appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating and/or diverting client funds entrusted to him. In October 2008, a client filed a complaint with The Florida Bar, alleging that Besu was holding more than $3.5 million of his money in escrow and he had not been able to reach Besu by telephone or at his office. Besu did not respond to a Bar subpoena. An audit revealed nearly $2 million was missing from a trust account that he controlled.
• A. Clark Cone of West Palm Beach, suspended until further order, following a March 19 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Cone appeared to be causing great public harm. The Florida Bar’s investigation found that in several instances, Cone misappropriated client funds. After settling a personal injury case, Cone asked a client to endorse her $38,940.38 settlement check. Cone then deposited the money into his trust account and converted it to his use.
• Katherine Denise Crase of Tampa, suspended effective 30 days from a Feb. 25 court order. In July 2008, Crase was found guilty of seven felony counts of conspiracy and mail fraud. She was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
• Joseph R. De Lucca of Boynton Beach, suspended until further order, following a March 11 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, De Lucca appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating client trust funds or property. A Florida Bar audit found that De Lucca had a negative balance of $35,572.91 in his trust account, after using client funds for his own purposes.
• Susan Lynn Eberle of Orlando, suspended for 91 days, effective 30 days from a March 24 court order. Eberle is being held in contempt of court for noncompliance with Florida Supreme Court orders. In March 2006, Eberle was suspended for 30 days and placed on probation for two years. She violated the terms of that probation and in August 2007, Eberle was given an additional two years probation to run consecutively after the first.
• Delaila Jannette Estefano of Miami, suspended until further order, following a March 9 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Estefano appeared to be causing great public harm. A criminal case pending in the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court alleges that Estefano, working with two others, engaged in a systematic, ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud and/or obtain property from a mortgage lender by false pretenses. An investigation by the Miami-Dade Police Department revealed the use of Estafano’s law firm escrow account in the alleged fraudulent activities.
• Rafael Gonzalez of Lithia, suspended for three years, effective 30 days from an Oct. 2, 2008 court order. Gonzalez was initially suspended for 14 days in September 2007 and violated the terms of the court’s order by practicing law.
• Webb Greenfelder of San Antonio, suspended for 91 days, effective immediately, following a March 5 court order. Greenfelder was arrested when police investigated a domestic violence incident at his home. Charges were later dropped. Greenfelder has been ineligible to practice law since October 2005 as a result of not paying his Florida Bar dues. He is also delinquent with his continuing legal education requirements.
• David Robert Heil of Winter Park, suspended for 10 days, effective 30 days from an April 2 court order. In December, 2002, Heil was hired to represent a client in a personal injury case. In October 2007, without giving prior notice to the client, Heil filed a notice of voluntary dismissal and subsequently, the statute of limitations ran out on the case.
• Jeffrey Merrill Leukel of Sanford, suspended for 90 days, effective retroactive to Oct. 20, 2008, following an April 1 court order. Leukel was further placed on probation for three years and ordered to enter into a contract with Florida Lawyer’s Assistance. In September 2008, Leukel pleaded no contest to driving while his license was permanently revoked, a third-degree felony.
• Andrew William Menyhart of Merritt Island, suspended until further order, following a March 19 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Menyhart appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating funds from his trust account. In one matter, a $19,000 check written on Menyhart’s trust account was returned due to insufficient funds. On another occasion, Menyhart wrote a check to a client as partial payment of a settlement. That check was also returned. An audit by The Florida Bar found that Menyhart altered bank statements to show that he was still holding funds for a $100,000 estate, when in fact, he was not.
• Gary Michael Murphree of Miami, suspended for one year, effective retroactive to Sept. 15, 2008, following an April 2 court order and placed on probation for three years, effective immediately. In May 2008, Murphree was found guilty in circuit court of possessing cocaine and drug paraphernalia with intent to use. Murphree failed to notify The Florida Bar, as required, of the charges.
• David Philip Ryan III of Coral Gables, suspended until further order, following a March 3 court order. According to an emergency suspension order, Ryan appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating and/or diverting funds entrusted to him. A Florida Bar audit revealed that Ryan used client funds to satisfy personal matters.
• Fred Rowan Tokarsky of Orlando, suspended for three years, effective immediately, following a March 5 court order. In August 2008, Tokarsky was found guilty in federal court of three felonies: devising a scheme to defraud through mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and theft of government funds.
• Gloretta Hankins Hall of Stuart, to receive a public reprimand, following a March 5 court order. In May 2006, Hall was the supervising lawyer on a malpractice case and her associate was assigned to manage the case. Hall failed to monitor the associate’s activities in the case and hired her sister to act as an expert witness, because the associate had not hired a nurse expert. At a later date, Hall learned that her sister provided testimony at the deposition that was not truthful regarding their familial relationship.
• James Dean Wood of Treasure Island, to receive a public reprimand, following a March 5 court order. Wood received $25,000 to handle a case. He initially traveled from Pinellas County to Miami to meet with the client. After that, there is no evidence that Wood researched the case or communicated with the client.