Lawyer Has High-Profile Character Witness in Discipline Case: Retired Justice O’Connor
An Arizona hearing officer has recommended a 90-day suspension for a lawyer accused of an unwitting role in a Ponzi scheme after a high-profile witness testified on his behalf: retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
The Scottsdale lawyer, Robert Rosepink, was convicted of four misdemeanors for recruiting investors in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, the Legal Profession Blog reports. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor testified as a character witness by phone in the ethics hearing. She knew Rosepink individually and through her late husband.
The hearing officer’s opinion says Rosepink “walked onto an ethical minefield” when he gave investment advice to individuals. At a minimum, he owed the investors a duty to disclose that he was not receiving current information about the investment company’s financial health, according to the opinion (PDF).
One of the investors who lost money was Rosepink’s mother-in-law; his later divorce was at least a partial result, according to the opinion. The hearing officer cited the divorce as a mitigating factor along with Rosepink’s prior “unblemished” reputation.
Rosepink reached a plea deal in the criminal case in 2009 that calls for him to provide restitution of up to $10 million, the Arizona Republic reported at the time. The story says the Ponzi scheme cost investors $47 million.
