Disbarred N.J. Lawyer Gets 15 Years for Gambling Away $4M in Client Funds

A disbarred New Jersey lawyer was sentenced to a 15-year prison term today for stealing about $4 million he was supposed to use for real estate closings and gambling it away in Atlantic City casinos.

Michael Rumore, 50, who ran his law practice from the basement of his Lyndhurst home, was also ordered to pay more than $6 million in restitution, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Leader.

However, he will not be able to make full restitution, his lawyer, Albert Alfano, said earlier this year, promising that Rumore would pay back as much as he could, the Leader reports. The lawyer had argued for a lesser sentence, pointing to his client's bipolar disorder and depression, among other medical issues.

Rumore could have gotten as much as 30 years after pleading guilty early this year to first-degree money laundering and second-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property received. He surrendered his law license and was disbarred in 2008.

All the money he took went straight to the casinos, his lawyer said earlier this year: "Not a dime of it went anywhere else. He always intended to pay it back."