Feds Charge Miami Lawyer With $13.5M Fraud

[Judi Lynn]

May 23, 2006, 1:12PM
Feds Charge Miami Lawyer With $13.5M Fraud

By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

MIAMI — A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday accused a disbarred attorney of defrauding thousands of clients out of $13.5 million in settlement money from lawsuits claiming they were made ill by exposure to asbestos.

Louis S. Robles, 58, was charged with 41 counts of mail fraud. Robles, who was disbarred in 2003 after an investigation by the Florida Bar into his financial practices, surrendered to federal authorities on Monday.

The indictment alleged Robles took money from his asbestos clients' trust fund accounts and used it to pay for personal real estate, including a 9,000-square-foot waterfront mansion on Key Biscayne, apartments in New York and Los Angeles and a condominium in Telluride, Colo.

It also accused him of using settlement money to invest in movie production and a waste management firm, and to pay his ex-wife's alimony.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3882676.html

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Posted on Tue, May. 23, 2006

COURTS
Flashy lawyer accused of swindling his clientsA personal injury lawyer faces charges he took more than $13 million from the clients he represented for asbestos exposure.
BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

~snip~

Robles, once dubbed the ''king of torts'' for his high-flying personal-injury practice, came under scrutiny of federal prosecutors in 2003 after the Florida Bar found he had committed serious wrongdoing. Among his violations: pilfering his clients' damage settlements and orchestrating a Ponzi scheme in which he used new settlements to pay part of the old ones. He also overbilled fees and expenses to those clients.

The Florida Supreme Court then yanked his law license.

An indictment returned May 11 by a Miami federal grand jury alleges that after Robles reached settlements with various asbestos manufacturers, he would deposit the payouts in his trust account and then steal them, instead of mailing them to his clients as promised. The indictment charges Robles with 40 counts of mail and wire fraud.

Prosecutors say there were more than 4,000 asbestos clients victimized by Robles from 1992 until 2002. They are scattered from South Florida to the Midwest and West Coast.

Among the alleged victims: Jerry Fredrickson of Wisconsin, a commercial carpenter who was forced to retire in 1990 because of longtime exposure to asbestos, a fireproofing material that causes lung disease. After a medical diagnosis five years later, he asked Robles to represent him in a lawsuit.

Despite several attempts to reach the lawyer, Fredrickson said he never actually talked with Robles, even after reaching settlements totaling $16,000 with several asbestos manufacturers. He was supposed to get two-thirds and Robles one-third of the payout.

Fredrickson, who suffers from pulmonary fibrosis and other ailments, said he was thrilled that justice had finally caught up with Robles.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14644094.htm

Earlier stories on this jerk from the Miami Herald:
http://www.judicialaccountability.org/articles/lawyerkeptmoneyofasbestos.htm

[Tempest]

1. He's a Democrat only contributor according to Opensecrets.org

Good riddance.

[Judi Lynn]

2. No kidding! Thanks for looking it up. Who needs that crap? n/t

[acmejack]

3. They're getting the mudslinging machine cranked up now.

This is about the fourth separate incident of Democratic malfeasance I have seen reported on in the last 24 hours.

edit: criminal donors, tainted funding sources is what I am trying to say

[Tempest]

4. Not to fear, the Abramoff scandal continues to fester

Lobbying Trial to Look Inside White House
Lobbying Trial: the Case of the E-Mails and Bush Administration's
Former Top Procurement Official

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1995033