Suspended Kentucky Lawyer Liable for $3.2M for ‘Reprehensible’ Conduct
A suspended Louisville, Ky., lawyer and a financier have been found liable for $3.2 million as a result of “inexcusable” conduct in a bankruptcy case.
The judgment against lawyer Bruce Atherton and financier Randall Scott Waldman includes $2 million in punitive damages, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joan Lloyd wrote that businessman Ronald Stone consulted Atherton about reorganizing his business, paying him a $10,000 retainer. Atherton connected Stone with Waldman as a “white knight” whose investments could save the troubled business. Rather than representing Stone’s best interests, the judge said, Atherton dissipated company assets and transferred them to Waldman, according to the Courier-Journal account.
Lloyd said Atherton’s actions were “nothing less than reprehensible.”
In a separate case, Atherton pleaded guilty in September to aiding a Pennsylvania scheme to drain the assets of companies offered for sale, according to the story.
