CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
The Supreme Court of Ohio has permanently revoked the law license
of Cincinnati attorney Robert Leon Schwartz for misconduct that resulted in his
convictions on felony counts of mail fraud and filing a false income tax
return.
Schwartz, whose law license has been under an interim suspension since
the court was informed of his June 2010 felony convictions, was sentenced to a
four-year term in federal prison.
In a 6-0 per curiam opinion announced Wednesday, the court adopted
findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that
Schwartz admitted using the U.S. mail in a scheme to defraud Hadassah Hospital
of more than $2.4 million from a bequest the hospital was supposed to receive
from the estate of a deceased client of Schwartz's, Beverly Hersh. Prior to her
death in 2005, Hersh named Schwartz administrator of her estate, which included
assets of more than $12 million, and appointed him as trustee of two trusts
funded by the estate from which Schwartz was to make contributions to tax-exempt
charitable organizations and deserving individuals.
By 2008, Schwartz had distributed over $9 million from the
discretionary trust over which he had complete control, which was significantly
more than the percentage of Hersh's estate allocated to that trust, but had
distributed less than $50,000 to recognized charities from the charitable trust
and only $210,000 of the $2.6 million bequest Hersh had left to Hadassah
Hospital.
Schwartz also admitted filing a false federal income tax return
for 2007 in which he failed to report income of more than $800,000, consisting
of money he had disbursed to himself from the Hersh trust funds, money he
diverted from the trust funds to pay for the care of his mother, and income from
other legal fees.
The court agreed with the board's conclusions that Schwartz's
actions violated the state disciplinary rules that prohibit an attorney from
engaging in illegal conduct that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty or
trustworthiness, engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or
misrepresentation; and engaging in conduct that reflects adversely on an
attorney's fitness to practice law.
In imposing the board's recommended sanction of permanent
disbarment, the court rejected Schwartz's arguments in favor of a less severe
penalty. The court noted that, in addition to misappropriating funds and filing
a false tax return, Schwartz violated the trust of his client by failing to
carry out her instructions to distribute much of her estate to charitable
causes, and violated the right of Hadassah Hospital to promptly enjoy the
benefit of the bequest Hersh intended it to receive.
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