In 'Sad But Predictable' Case, Ex-Lawyer Steals $267K from New Employer
Disbarred after he stole $300,000 from his former law firm—and another $200,000 from a subsequent employer, a former New Jersey tax attorney has now admitted that he stole $267,000 from a more recent employer, a company for which he prepared tax returns.
The theft by deception, to which 52-year-old Gregory Luhn pleaded guilty in Bergen County Superior Court yesterday, was apparently driven by the ex-lawyer’s admitted gambling and alcohol addictions, prosecutor Bryan Lynch tells the Daily Record. He says he plans to recommend a five-year prison term when Luhn is sentenced in October.
Luhn’s former partners at Smith, Luhn & Doran in Morristown initially supported him when they discovered around April of 1997 that he was stealing from the firm and urged him to get therapy for compulsive gambling, the newspaper recounts, but they ousted him when the pilfering continued.
His former partner Robert Smith says the firm never received full restitution from Luhn, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to stealing from the law partnership and eventually served four months of a six-year prison sentence. “I think it’s sad but predictable,” he told the Daily Record when Luhn was charged with stealing more than $200,000 from Custom Travel Incentives and Promotions in Haskell.
Luhn allegedly told the company to make its checks for tax payments out in his name and deposited them to his own personal account.
Neither article includes any comment from Luhn or his counsel. He was disbarred by consent in 2002.
Additional coverage:
New Jersey Law Journal: “Years After Disbarment for Stealing, Ex-Lawyer Again Charged With Theft”
