Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M51003

K/nl

A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J.

HOWARD MILLER

STEPHEN G. CRANE

WILLIAM F. MASTRO

REINALDO E. RIVERA, JJ.

2006-07056 In the Matter of Arelia Margarita Taveras, an attorney and counselor-at-law. Grievance Committee for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts, petitioner; Arelia Margarita Taveras, respondent. (Attorney Registration No. 4045290)

DECISION & ORDER ON MOTION

Motion by the Grievance Committee for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts for an order: 1) suspending the respondent from the practice of law pending consideration of charges of professional misconduct against her, pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.4(l)(1)(iii), upon a finding that she is guilty of professional misconduct immediately threatening the public interest, based upon uncontroverted evidence of professional misconduct; 2) authorizing it to institute and prosecute a disciplinary proceeding against the respondent based upon the petition, dated November 30, 2006, which is annexed to its Order to Show Cause; 3) directing the respondent to submit an answer to the petition; and 4) referring this matter to a Special Referee to hear and report. By decision and order on motion of this court dated January 24, 2007, the court, on its own motion, appointed Robert P. Guido of the Office of Special Counsel to the Presiding Justice for Grievance Matters, to take custody of and inventory the files of the respondent, pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.10(k), and to take such action as seems indicated to protect the interests of the respondent 's clients. The respondent was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on February 22, 2002.

Upon the papers submitted in support of the motion and no papers having been submitted in opposition thereto, it is

ORDERED that the motion, inter alia, for the respondent's immediate suspension is granted; and it is further,

ORDERED that pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.4(l)(1)(iii), the respondent, Arelia Margarita Taveras, is immediately suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York, pending further order of the court; and it is further,

ORDERED that the respondent shall promptly comply with this court's rules governing the conduct of disbarred, suspended, and resigned attorneys (see 22 NYCRR 691.10); and it is further,

ORDERED that pursuant to Judiciary Law §90, during the period of suspension and until further order of this court, the respondent, Arelia Margarita Taveras, is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk, or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, Judge, Justice, board commission, or other public authority, (3) giving to another an opinion as to the law of its application or any advice in relation thereto, and (4) holding herself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law; and it is further,

ORDERED that the Grievance Committee for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts is hereby authorized to institute and prosecute a disciplinary proceeding in this court, against Arelia Margarita Taveras, based on the petition dated November 30, 2006; and it is further,

ORDERED that Diana Maxfield Kearse, Chief Counsel to the Grievance Committee for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts, Renaissance Plaza, 335 Adams Street, Suite 2400, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201-3745, is hereby appointed as attorney for the petitioner in such proceeding; and it is further,

ORDERED that within 20 days after service upon her of a copy of this decision and order on motion, the respondent shall serve an answer upon the petitioner and the Special Referee, and shall file the original answer with this court; and it is further,

ORDERED that the issues raised by the petition and answer are referred to the Honorable Francis X. Egitto, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, 360 Adams Street, Room 1137C, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201, as Special Referee to expeditiously hear and report within 60 days after the conclusion of the hearing or the submission of post-hearing memoranda; and it is further,

ORDERED that if the respondent, Arelia Margarita Taveras, has been issued a secure pass by the Office of Court Administration, it shall be returned forthwith to the issuing agency and the respondent shall certify to the same in her affidavit of compliance pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.10(f).

We find, prima facie, that the respondent is guilty of professional misconduct immediately threatening the public interest based upon uncontroverted evidence of professional misconduct.

On October 31, 2005, the Grievance Committee received a dishonored check report from the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection indicating that a check in the amount of $2,609 drawn on the escrow account of "the Taveras Law Group, PLLC" at JP Morgan Chase Bank had been returned for insufficient funds. By letter dated November 3, 2006, the respondent explained that she had written a $10,000 check from her escrow account on behalf of her clients who were making a down payment on a condominium. The respondent had been holding funds from the sale of their original residence in her escrow account. She made the $10,000 check payable to Satish F. Goli, as attorney. However, the clients' mortgage company requested proof that the down payment came from the purchaser. The respondent returned the $10,000 to her clients and telephoned Mr. Goli to inform him that he should not deposit the check he had received from the respondent and that a replacement check from the clients would follow shortly. Mr. Goli inadvertently deposited the respondent's check. This allegedly resulted in two bounced checks on the respondent 's escrow account. The respondent questioned the involvement of the Lawyers' Fund in this matter. She suggested that the Grievance Committees should routinely check with the lawyers first inasmuch as "there usually is a practical explanation" for such situations.

The Grievance Committee requested copies of the respondent's check stubs, bank statements, cancelled checks, deposit slips, and ledger for the six months preceding the dishonorment. The respondent complied with the request approximately three months later. In reviewing the bank statements provided by the respondent, the Grievance Committee questioned their genuineness. For example, negotiated checks appeared on some of the bank statements in numerical order but in chronological order on others and one of the allegedly cancelled checks lacked the customary numerical coding imprinted by the bank. Moreover, the ledger provided by the respondent was inconsistent with the transactions reported on the bank statements.

On March 17, 2006, the Grievance Committee served a judicial subpoena duces tecum on JP Morgan Chase Bank, requesting copies of bank statements, deposit tickets, deposited items, cancelled checks, and records of electronic funds transfers from the inception of the escrow account to date. On April 14, 2006, the Grievance Committee received a second dishonored check report from the Lawyers' Fund indicating that two checks totaling $166,386.04 drawn on the escrow account were returned for insufficient funds.

A comparison of the records that the respondent had provided with the records received from the bank reveals the respondent's attempt to disguise and conceal activity in her escrow account. Each of the six bank statements provided by the respondent proved to be forged. The respondent deleted from her records multiple withdrawals from her escrow account via online bank transfers between July 27, 2005, and August 23, 2005, totaling $160,000. The bank statement for that period shows that those funds were deposited into the respondent's personal accounts. In an apparent attempt to justify missing funds, the respondent provided a page purportedly containing a copy of the front and back of check number 1123, negotiated on May 23, 2005. The copy lacks the numerical coding that banks routinely imprint on the lower right hand corner of negotiated checks. Moreover, the official bank statement for the same period shows no record of check number 1123 clearing the account during that period.

The respondent also deleted certain deposits from her statements, including a check in the sum of $66,000 payable to her from Resorts International in Atlantic City dated July 13, 2005. She also forged a bank statement to conceal a check she drew on her escrow account in the sum of $43,727.84, dated August 18, 2005, made payable to Momentum BMW.

The Grievance Committee's audit revealed multiple conversions of client funds from the escrow account. On five occasions between August 3, 2004, and June 1, 2005, the respondent deposited funds into her escrow account representing down payments in real estate transactions. In each of those cases, the bank statement showed a depleted balance during the period when the funds should have been held in escrow.

In February 2006, the respondent deposited into her escrow account a total of more than $70,000 in funds payable to her as attorney. Between February 6, 2006, and February 24, 2006, she electronically transferred more than $64,000 of those funds from escrow into her personal/business account in 15 transfers, with sums ranging from $300 to $10,000. Bank records also reveal that the respondent wrote at least one check from her escrow account payable to cash during the period examined, commingled personal and client funds, and used her escrow account for personal purposes.

Although served with the Order to Show Cause on December 1, 2006, via priority mail upon her counsel, Chris D. McDonough, the respondent has failed to oppose the allegations or to interpose any response whatsoever. Thus, the allegations are uncontroverted.

Under the circumstances, the Grievance Committee's motion is granted, the respondent is suspended pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.4(l)(1)(iii), pending further order of this court, and the Grievance Committee is authorized to institute and prosecute a disciplinary proceeding against her.

PRUDENTI, P.J., MILLER, CRANE, MASTRO and RIVERA, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

James Edward Pelzer

Clerk of the Court