Foreclosure defense lawyer is missing; his law partner says at least $6M in firm money is gone
A foreclosure defense lawyer in Florida has been reported missing as authorities investigate the reported disappearance of at least $6 million in funds held by his law firm in trust accounts.
Timothy McCabe is a partner at McCabe and Samiljan in Lake Worth, Fla. His wife, Donna, reported him missing on April 5, report the Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. Authorities say she contacted them after one of her husband’s friends told her that McCabe had called him and said it was the last time he would hear from him.
McCabe’s law partner, Steve Samiljan, told the Sun Sentinel he estimates at least $6 million is missing from the firm’s trust and title company accounts. “I can tell you that a lot of money is missing and that a lot of clients are hurt,” Samiljan told the newspaper. “It’s been devastating for the clients, for my employees and for myself.”
A friend of McCabe’s told the Sun Sentinel that McCabe sent an email before his disappearance that said he had made some bad financial decisions and he was trying to fix the problems.
According to the Sun Sentinel, three Better Business Bureau complaints were filed against McCabe in the past year. One was filed by a man who said he paid McCabe’s law firm $2,700 for help with a loan modification but it did little to help him and failed to return phone calls or keep appointments. TD Bank filed a notice it planned to foreclose on the law firm’s Lake Worth office in December, the story says.
