Legal Ethics
Ex-Attorney Who Stole From Estate Gets 3 Years
Posted Jul 23, 2008 1:40 PM CST
By Martha Neil
After stealing more than $4 million from the estate of two elderly clients, a Connecticut lawyer paid it back--with interest.
But a judge nonetheless sentenced Peter Sivaslian, 76, to three years in prison yesterday, according to the Register Citizen and Newsday.
He pleaded no contest in May to two counts of first-degree larceny in the case.
According to an earlier Register Citizen article, Sivaslian obtained the money by arranging to have $1.8 million in bearer bonds delivered by messenger to his home in Torrington, Conn., and transferred $1.7 million in blue-chip stocks into personal bank accounts, an accountant found.
Earlier coverage:
Register Citizen (2006): "Ex-lawyer may need to show assets"
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Comments
neil
Jul 27, 2008 10:42 PM CST
Three years would be a light sentence for a $4M theft if the D was anyone but a lawyer. Lawyers steal from trusts all the time, and when caught, make every excuse in the book, and have all their lawyers friends write to the court on their behalf for leniency. My business law professor stole from a trust and was only disbarred, although he was jailed on contempt for awhile, while he tried to produce records about what happened to his client’s money.
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