Illinois Supreme Court disbars 10, suspends 17 in latest disciplinary filing

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on May 16, 2014, during the May Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

DISBARRED

• Michael Nunan Cook, Belleville

Mr. Cook, who was licensed in 1999, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty to federal criminal charges of possessing heroin and unlawfully using a controlled substance while in possession of firearms. At the time of his arrest, he was a sitting Circuit Court Judge. He was sentenced to serve a 24-month prison sentence. He was suspended on an interim basis on July 15, 2013.

• Rufus Lynwood Cook, Chicago

Mr. Cook, who was licensed in 1959, was disbarred. He represented both the buyers and the seller in a transaction in which he had a personal interest. He also failed to disclose to the buyers, who lost their entire investment, about his financial arrangement with the sellers and his receipt of half of the money paid by the buyers to the seller. He was suspended on an interim basis on August 19, 2013.

• Kenneth Alan Goldman, Skokie

Mr. Goldman, who was licensed in 2000, was disbarred on consent. He filed a false affidavit with the Supreme Court of Illinois in connection with a previous disciplinary case. He claimed to have notified clients that he had been suspended from the practice of law and attached copies of letters that he asserted had been sent to the clients. In fact, the actual letters he sent to his clients contained incomplete or misleading information about his inability to continue to represent them in cases and did not advise the clients of the Court’s order suspending him from the practice of law.

• Terry W. Huebner, Hinsdale

Mr. Huebner, who was licensed in 1992, was disbarred. He misappropriated $100,000 in escrow proceeds. He was suspended on an interim basis on October 8, 2013.

• Bradford E. Hunt, Alton

Mr. Hunt, who was licensed in 1982, was disbarred on consent. He failed to comply with a court order directing him to deposit $60,000 in client funds into a client trust account and used the funds for his own purposes. He then failed to file annual accountings as required by the court. He also improperly entered into an agreement with his client in order to limit his malpractice liability. Finally, Mr. Hunt represented clients after he had been removed from the Master Roll of Attorneys as a result of his failure to register and pay his 2013 registration fee.

• Karl Alfred Johnson, Northbrook

Mr. Johnson, who was licensed in Illinois in 1997, was disbarred. He neglected two civil matters, fabricated court orders, made misrepresentations and failed to cooperate with the investigations of his conduct or appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• Joseph Mario Moreno, Chicago

Mr. Moreno, who was licensed in 1979, was disbarred on consent. He was convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit extortion. While serving as a Cook County Commissioner, he sought kickbacks from various vendors. Over a three-year period, he also misreported the income from his law office on federal income tax forms. He was sentenced to serve a 132-month prison term followed by two years of supervised release, was ordered to forfeit $100,000, and must pay $134,192 in restitution.

• Mark David Singer, Chicago

Mr. Singer, who was licensed in 2000, was disbarred on consent. He accepted proceeds from a homeowner’s insurance policy on property that he owned in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, without disclosing his knowledge that certain third parties had intentionally set the fire that had destroyed the property.

• John A. Vassen, Belleville

Mr. Vassen, who was licensed in 1985, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty to violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in a case filed by federal prosecutors in the United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois. He engaged in a scheme to rig bids and fix prices at Illinois tax lien auctions.

• Richard Stewart Zachary, Chicago

Mr. Zachary, who was licensed in 1988, was disbarred. He neglected four separate client matters. In addition, he submitted false documents to a court, which resulted in his disbarment from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

SUSPENDED

• 'Lanre O. Amu, Chicago

Mr. Amu, who was licensed in Illinois in 1996, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court. He made false statements about the integrity of several judges before whom he was representing different clients in litigation.

• Nickolas Beloyeannis Bell, Des Plaines

Mr. Bell, who was licensed in 1997, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court. He filed frivolous pleadings in a client’s forcible detainer action and neglected another client’s matter, causing a judgment to be entered against the client for more than $200,000.

• David Andre Bertha, Chicago

Mr. Bertha, who was licensed in 2002, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after four months by an eight-month period of probation subject to conditions. He converted $1,000 in earnest money that he was supposed to hold in relation to a real estate matter. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Michael E. Fleck, Oakbrook Terrace

Mr. Fleck, who was licensed in 2004, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. He entered into an improper partnership with a non-lawyer, with whom Mr. Fleck operated a loan modification business and shared legal fees. He also assigned client matters to another attorney without client consent.

• Therese Cesar Garza, Chicago

Ms. Garza, who was licensed in 1981, was suspended for 90 days. She failed to communicate plea offers to three criminal defense clients, revealed confidential information relating to three clients, and engaged in several episodes of making comments or engaging in behavior that disrupted a tribunal. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Sandor Lewis Grossman, Chicago

Mr. Grossman, who was licensed in 1996, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. While representing a client in a securities arbitration matter, he misappropriated over $5,000 in settlement funds belonging to his client. He has yet to make restitution to that client.

• Timothy John Huyett, Carlyle

Mr. Huyett, who was licensed in 1986, was suspended for 60 days. He had sexual relations with a client and then made misrepresentations to two judges and to the ARDC regarding those relations. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Stacy Ann Igoe, Chicago

Ms. Igoe, who was licensed in Illinois in 1992, was suspended for nine months, effective June 6, 2014. She pled guilty to contempt of court in connection with the filing of a client’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. She electronically signed and filed the petition knowing that it contained a fraudulent statement. She was suspended on an interim basis on August 20, 2013.

• Bruce Leslie Jorgensen, Chicago

Mr. Jorgensen, who was licensed in 1986, was suspended for two years and until further order of Court. He pled guilty to a number of criminal acts, including violating orders of protection, causing criminal damage to government-owned GPS monitoring devices and aggravated assault of a probation officer.

• Dodie Leann Junkert, Clinton

Ms. Junkert, who was licensed in 1998, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. She failed to deposit client funds advanced for payment of anticipated filing and other fees into her client trust account, and failed to prepare and maintain ledgers, journals, reconciliation reports, and other records pertaining to her handling of client funds. She had been previously disciplined for similar conduct.

• Marlin E. Kirby, Oak Park

Mr. Kirby, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for one year, with the suspension stayed after six months by a one-year term of conditional probation. He misused money that a client had given him to pay an appearance fee, neglected another client’s matter, failed to communicate with three clients, did not return one client’s papers, and initially failed to cooperate with the ARDC. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Joseph Henry Martin, Keshena, Wis.

Mr. Martin, who was licensed in 1995, was suspended for six months, ordered to complete the ARDC Professionalism Seminar, and must pay any outstanding judgments, orders for fees and costs, and contempt fines arising out of his misconduct. He filed three frivolous lawsuits, communicated directly with parties he knew to be represented by counsel, and threatened to present a professional disciplinary allegation against another attorney to force that attorney to withdraw from representing the opposing party in civil litigation. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Cynthia Ann Miller, Hinsdale

Ms. Miller, who was licensed in 1991, was suspended for 90 days. She neglected three civil matters and provided a client with inaccurate billing statements that mistakenly overbilled for certain actions. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Frank Anthony Santilli, Chicago

Mr. Santilli, who was licensed in 1989, was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed after thirty days by a two-year period of conditional probation. He used client settlement funds for his own business purposes and delayed returning the funds to one of the clients. He also failed to pursue an EEOC claim for a client. Finally, he advanced financial assistance to a client and later deducted the advance from her worker’s compensation settlement, but did not disclose the deduction in a lump sum settlement contract filed with the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. The suspension is effective on June 6, 2014.

• Christopher Edward Stout, North Port, Fla.

Mr. Stout, who was licensed in 1997, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court. He committed criminal acts by possessing and using cannabis, cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin. He also committed two batteries and resisted a police officer.

• Bruce Michael Wamboldt, Chicago

Mr. Wamboldt, who was licensed in 1982, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court. He failed to file numerous collection law suits for which he had received advance cost payments from his client. Without his client’s knowledge or consent, he used more than $16,000 of the advanced costs for his own business and personal purposes. He also made false statements to the ARDC during the course of the disciplinary investigation.

• Thomas William Murphy, Chicago

(Order entered on May 12, 2014)
Mr. Murphy, who was licensed in 1977, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. An ARDC Hearing Board concluded that he had misappropriated $296,453 in trust funds, misappropriated another $325,000 in funds from two real estate transactions, and engaged in a conflict of interest.

CENSURED

• Samuel J. Cahnman, Springfield

Mr. Cahnman, who was licensed in 1978, was censured. He was found to have intentionally misled a judge about how he, Mr. Cahnman, had come into possession of a copy of a page of the judge’s private calendar book.

• Christina Gilbert-Manuel, Mahomet

Ms. Gilbert-Manuel, who was licensed in 2003, was censured for paying approximately $30,000 to a non-attorney financial planner for referring estate planning clients to her.

• Nicole Heather Rodriguez, Country Club Hills

Ms. Rodriguez, who was licensed in 2003, was censured. While representing parties in real estate transactions, she failed to hold funds belonging to clients and third parties separate from her own property.

• Robert Michael Rothstein, Chicago

Mr. Rothstein, who was licensed in 1984, was censured and ordered to attend the ARDC Professionalism Seminar. He aided his brother-in-law, a suspended lawyer, in the unauthorized practice of law by allowing the suspended lawyer to participate in three real estate transactions, negotiate with opposing counsel, and modify contracts. He also shared $1,300 in fees with his brother-in-law.