Ethics Complaint Claims Lawyer Kept Mum About Mistaken $81K Deposit
A North Carolina lawyer is accused in an ethics complaint of failing to return more than $81,000 mistakenly deposited to his client trust account.
The ethics complaint (PDF) says officials at the Asheville Savings Bank mistakenly deposited the money into the trust account maintained by Asheville lawyer Porter Staples in 2004. Three years later, only about $5,000 remained in the account, the complaint says. Staples “failed to identify, hold and maintain entrusted property,” the complaint alleges.
The bank didn’t discover the error until 2008, when Hendersonville, N.C., lawyer Randolph Romeo realized he never received the funds from the bank, according to the complaint.
The Legal Profession Blog has the story. Neither lawyer immediately returned phone calls seeking comment.
