Opinion ID: 2178106
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Commingling/Failure to Maintain Complete Records/Dishonesty)

Text: 2. Between June 1995 and September 1996, Respondent practiced with the law firm of Johnston, Rivlin & Foley, L.L.P. In addition to the law firm's operating and escrow accounts, Respondent maintained a separate, personal escrow account in his own name at NationsBank. The account, No. XX-XXXXXXXX, was titled Lewis A. Rivlin, Lawyer's Trust Account. (NationsBank Trust Account). Respondent's escrow account predated and postdated his affiliation with Johnston, Rivlin & Foley. 3. By at least June 1995, Respondent was using his NationsBank Trust Account as a business and personal account as well as an account for the deposit of client funds, including funds entrusted by third parties to Respondent. Respondent frequently referred to this account as his triage account. 4. During 1995 and 1996, Respondent deposited the following entrusted funds into his NationsBank Trust Account: a) $3,000,000 provided by Piedmont Resolution, L.L.C.; b) Funds from Anglo-Nordic for trading in bank debentures; c) Funds entrusted to Respondent by investors in Am-C.A.R. Trading Corporation (Am-C.A.R.). (In his solicitation to Am-C.A.R. investors, Respondent stated that their funds would be held in his lawyer's trust account.) 5. In addition to these various funds held by him in trust in his NationsBank Trust Account, Respondent deposited into the account: a) Earned fees, including a $28,000 check from client Summit Management Corp.; b) Funds from his wife's personal account; c) Funds from his personal account; d) Checks payable to Respondent as Trustee for Benjamin Rivlin; e) Checks from his law firm received as compensation; f) Funds provided by friends as loans or assistance  to Respondent, to transfer to other clients, to pay Respondent's rent, and for his other personal purposes. 6. Respondent used his NationsBank Trust Account to pay his business and personal expenses, including drafting checks to himself, his wife, his ex-wife, cash, Giant Food, PEPCO, Washington Gas, Hechingers, Capitol One, parking, his attorneys, Radio Shack, the IRS, Maryland's Comptroller of the Treasury, the District of Columbia Bar, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (his landlord as of July 1997), Texaco, his law firm, Publishers Clearing House, J.C. Penny, Sears, and the Sports Authority. 7. Respondent wrote numerous checks on his NationsBank Trust Account when there were insufficient funds to cover the checks. From June 1995 to February 1998, the Account was overdrawn on more than forty occasions. Bank statements show thirteen overdrafts between June 1995 and November 1996. The bank sent overdraft notices to Respondent for fifteen checks drawn on insufficient funds between November 1996 and January 1997. More than a dozen overdrafts occurred between October 1997 and February 1998. 8. Notwithstanding NationsBank's frequent notices to Respondent when there were overdrafts, Respondent continued to write checks on his trust account when there were insufficient funds. This continued for more than a year after Bar Counsel opened its investigation into Respondent's overdrawing of his trust account. Respondent testified that he didn't see any reason to change. If I was already doing something wrong, it couldn't make it much wronger to continue doing it. 9. For at least during the mid-1995 to mid-1998 time period that Respondent continued to use his NationsBank Trust Account for his personal and business affairs, Respondent had millions of dollars in judgments against him. These judgments included a $4  5 million judgment against Respondent by investors in Coaxial Systems, a $1 million judgment by Anglo-Nordic, a $300,000 judgment by a Mr. Lowe, and other judgments. In addition, the IRS had tax liens against Respondent. 10. Respondent was served in 1997 and 1998 with subpoenas by Bar Counsel to produce complete records of the funds deposited into his NationsBank Trust Account  records which he was required to maintain. Respondent claimed that he had such records, but searching for them was not a very high priority as Bar Counsel had already obtained his bank statements from NationsBank.