Attorney's Practice in Jeopardy After Sister Allegedly Defrauds Clients

02/17/10

According to Barber's attorney, Robert S. Bello, of Bello, Lapine & Cassone in Stamford, ''He was trusting his sister. She was his secretary. When real estate was booming, lawyers were overwhelmed, and secretaries started handling paralegal work, and in some cases, acting as the accountant.''


Last month, Barber was suspended for 90 days from his practice, and ordered to pay four of his defrauded clients' restitution of $215,000 within one year. Barber's troubles are far from over. According to documents that are part of the investigation, grievance officials reported that Barber ''has done little or no legal work since May 2009.'' In addition, grievance officials have questioned Barber's condominium maintenance business and his practice of mixing funds from the two businesses. Barber's condo maintenance business has been his main source of income recently.

Janet Barber Olszewski, Barber's mother, is not surprised at the unlawful actions of her daughter and supported her son with written testimony to Judge Adams in which she asked for leniency for her son.

According to Olszewski, ''this is an incredibly painful but true admission. My daughter Stacey is ... a monster sociopath; the worst of whom you may ever encounter. A master of deception and manipulation. Addicted to heroin, her desperation knows no bounds.''

According to reports, Williams scheme involved moving large amounts of money from between accounts and skimming several thousand of dollars off the top in the process.

In 2008, Barber discovered his sister's fraudulent activities when she signed documents requiring an attorney's signature, and the bank, in return, wired over $30,000 to a client's funds account. Barber reported his sister to the FBI when he discovered that his sister had issued a check payable to Barber's client, forged the client's signature and Williams then cashed the check.

According to attorney, Bello, ''this is a wake-up call to lawyers.'' Bello pointed out that Barber was responsible for overseeing Williams, and also, that under normal circumstances, if a client's funds are stolen, the client can apply for reimbursement with the state's Client Security Fund, however, in Barber's case- he didn't take the money. Bello is a committee member that reviews reimbursement requests from the Client Security Fund and has stated that he will excuse himself from any hearings regarding Barber's clients. The Client Security Fund is funded by state lawyers who pay $110 in annual dues.

Bello also remarked that he wasn't sure if Barber's clients are eligible to apply for reimbursements, and that he was unsure whether Barber should be responsible for reimbursing his clients by himself. Bello commented that legal action against the banks that wired to the money to Barber's accountant is a consideration because representatives at the back should have known the signatures on the real estate documents were forged by Williams.

According to Sutton, the assistant disciplinary counsel, ''you can't just hand over the management of your practice to someone, whether it's a family member or someone with a great resume.''