Courts

Texas Lawyer Steals ~$200k In Trust Funds From Client

Quick tutorial on how to not take care of your clients.

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Stressed Man Looking How his Money Fly Vector CartoonIf you’re lawyering up after a divorce, be very cautious of who represents you. You don’t want them divorcing you from your hard-earned money. Not just overcharging — literally shrugging after you ask them where the money from selling your house went. From Fox affiliate KETK:

A Tyler lawyer was arrested on Friday and is accused of transferring more than $200,000 out of a trust account meant for his client.

According to his arrest warrant, Bruce Bain, 56, was hired in September 2022 as a divorce attorney for a client and was paid a $5,000 retainer fee that same day. The client told police, according to the warrant, that $235,551.44 from the sale of her home was put into a trust account set up by Bain.

“She advised that when the divorce was finalized the money was no longer in the trust account,” the warrant said. “[She] advised that she spoke with Bain about this, and he told her that he had spent the money.”

He spent the what?! You blow through over $200k of someone else’s cash and that’s the best explanation you have? Given that a grand jury subpoena showed that transfers were made from the trust to Bain’s law office’s checking and savings account, any recent fancy renovations to his office should be suspect.

After Bain was arrested, he was let go on $500 bond. The assumption is that he went home and not back to work — pretty hard to maintain a small firm with a “He stole $230k from me” Yelp review hanging over you.

Tyler Lawyer Arrested On Theft Charges, Accused Of Taking More Than $200,000 From Client [KETK]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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