Crooked Counselor Charged In Refi Swindle; State Lawyer Fund Coughs Up Cash To Cover Client's Mortgage On Eve Of Foreclosure; More Charges In Works

In New Haven, Connecticut, The New Haven Register reports:

• A former city lawyer has been arrested in the theft of more than $143,000 while handling the refinancing of a client’s home mortgage in 2007. Morris I. Olmer, 81, [...] was arraigned at Superior Court on a single count of first-degree larceny. He is accused of pocketing $143,530.35 instead of paying off the original lender when a Hamden client refinanced a mortgage, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

• Olmer’s client was then on the verge of foreclosure when the mortgage was paid off by the [Connecticut Bar's] Client Security Fund.(1) All practicing lawyers pay into the state fund to aid victims of attorney misconduct.(2)

• Olmer, a former city alderman who had practiced law for more than 50 years, had his law license suspended for six months in February 2007 in an unrelated mortgage scheme. He resigned as a member of the Connecticut bar in July 2008, according to state judicial records. Olmer is accused of swindling his client in January 2007.

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• The criminal charge came when two complaints were filed with the Statewide Grievance Committee by the owner of the Hamden home and another client. Those complaints were forwarded to the office of the chief state’s attorney for prosecution. “The essence of both cases’ complaints was that attorney Olmer had been retained by both complainants to handle refinance closing on their homes; however, Olmer kept the proceeds from the new mortgage companies and did not pay off the existing mortgages,” Gregory Zigmont, an inspector for the financial crimes bureau of the office of the chief state’s attorney wrote in the arrest warrant affidavit.

• Olmer has only been charged in one of the complaints, but a source close to the investigation said a second arrest warrant is being prepared.

For the story, see Ex-lawyer charged in $143G swindle.

See also, New Haven Independent: Ex-Lawyer Charged With Swindling Client.

(1) Typically, it's the underwiter that issued the title insurance policy that forks over the dough to satisfy the unpaid mortgage and winds up holding the bag in this kind of case. No word in the story whether the Client Security Fund will now chase the title insurer to recover its money, or if it recognizes the insurer as an additional victim of the swindle eligible for damage recovery.

(2) For those ripped off by crooked counselors in other states and Canada, see:

• United States: Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• United States: Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Canada: Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.