Opinion ID: 1357458
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Abundant Life Church Matter

Text: Abundant Life Church (Church) consolidated three mortgages into one and chose respondent to close the transaction. Respondent received a check for $455,059 which he deposited in his trust account on July 28, 1995. The ending balance in the trust account for July 1995 was $434,642.99 which indicated respondent had misappropriated the Church's funds. During August, two of the Church's mortgages were satisfied with funds from respondent's trust account. Instead of satisfying the third mortgage for $360,309.71, respondent began making monthly payments. In October, an unrelated third party gave respondent a check for $359,209.93 which respondent deposited in his trust account. Respondent then wrote a check to satisfy the Church's third mortgage. However, the third party's check was not honored by the drawee bank, and therefore the funds in respondent's trust account were insufficient to cover the check. The bank which maintained respondent's trust account honored the check anyway, leaving a negative balance in respondent's trust account of $347,732.61. Respondent negotiated with the bank to pay the amount owed. During those negotiations, respondent attempted to dissuade the bank from revealing his misconduct by threatening, I must caution you, however, that should punitive action be instigated or information leaked to the Bar, ... then my individual efforts to satisfy the bank and to remove the problem as it relates to me will not only become impaired but will become a matter of impossibility.