'Trust But Verify,' Court Tells 2 Lawyers Suspended Over Partner's $17M Fraud
Two lawyers who themselves were victims of a former partner’s $17 million fraud have been suspended for failing to do enough to catch Anthony Bellettieri in wrongdoing as he stole from client trust accounts.
Although Bellettieri, who is now disbarred and serving a prison sentence, oversaw the Bellettieri Fonte and Laundonio escrow accounts, partners Robert Fonte and Tara Anne Laundonio were both signatories and should have paid more attention to red flags, a New York Supreme Court Appellate Division panel held in separate opinions last week.
The appellate panel found that the two violated their “nonwaivable fiduciary duty” to protect the firm’s escrow funds, and suspended Fonte for three years and Laundonio for six months, reports the New York Law Journal. Its article is reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
Fonte and Laundonio, who were admitted to the state bar in 1986 and 1998, respectively, never even saw bank statements for the firm’s escrow and operating accounts, according to a report by special referee Steven Krane. “When it comes to safekeeping of funds … the proper approach is ‘trust but verify,’ ” he wrote.
Given the commingling of personal and client funds by Bellettieri of which they were aware and Bellettieri’s refusal to timely provide documents for one account that had been requested by Fonte, he and Laundonio should have asked more questions, the Second Department panel said.
Attorney Neil Comer, who represented Fonte and Laudonio, didn’t respond to a request by the legal publication for comment.
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com (Nov. 2007): “N.Y. Lawyer Stole $24M, Gets 10 Years”
