Client suit says attorney radio host took $2.3 million and charged $20K more in legal fees
A prominent suburban Chicago lawyer is facing both a civil suit and a legal ethics complaint over allegations that she misappropriated some $2 million in client funds while also charging an additional $20,000 in legal fees.
Kathleen Niew, who hosts a WIND radio program on which she gives financial and estate planning advice, is accused of taking most of the $2.3 million that she persuaded a client couple to deposit into her law firm trust account for real estate purchases, the Chicago Tribune (reg. req.) reports.
Niew declined to comment when contacted by the Tribune. However, she contends in response to the civil suit that she, too, has suffered the same problem as her clients, Jamal and Leda Khoury, blaming the diversion of funds on an unidentified third party, the newspaper recounts.
