Waterbury Attorney in Hot Seat for Failure to Turn Over Client's Real Estate Funds
A Waterbury attorney who was sentenced to 41 months in prison for bilking clients now faces a presentment for his handling of real estate proceeds.
June 20, 2019 at 07:40 PM
3 minute read
A suspended Waterbury attorney accused of siphoning at least $411,00 from clients now also faces a presentment over allegations he kept real estate proceeds in his Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts, or IOLTA, despite demands he return the money.
The Statewide Grievance Committee announced Wednesday that the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel made the presentment against Waterbury attorney Alan Giacomi as it related to his dealings with client Roger Bolduc.
The reviewing committee of the Statewide Grievance Committee found probable cause that Giacomi violated the safekeeping property rules within the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The presentment is pending a final decision from the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.
Meanwhile, Giacomi has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release May 17 for bilking his clients. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, and was ordered to pay $411,715 in restitution. He had faced 57 months in prison. Giacomi must report to prison July 26.
A general practice attorney for nearly two decades, Giacomi was accused of bilking clients, including two in their 90s, of hundreds of thousands of dollars and using the money for his own benefit.
In one instance, the government said, Giacomi's cousin hired him to assist with her mother's entry into a nursing home. The woman who was to go into the nursing home was Giacomi's great-aunt. But, prosecutors said, Giacomi convinced his cousin to take out a life insurance annuity in his great aunt's name for more than $35,000. The money was supposed to be used to pay part of his great aunt's nursing home bill, but, instead, was “embezzled by Giacomi,” according to the government.
The defense sentencing memo said Giacomi “began with the best of intentions and served as a court-appointed attorney for indigent parents and children involved with the Department of Children and Families.”
The memo continues: “After lawyering for over a decade. the demands of the practice became too much. Those demands—the demands we all feel to a greater or lesser degree as lawyers—exacerbated Alan's underlying mental health disorders. And, to ameliorate the symptoms of those disorders, Alan turned to a time-tested crutch: drugs and alcohol.”
In its sentencing memo, the government wrote that the 45-year-old attorney “swindled and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his legal clients and his friends.”
Representing Giacomi is federal defender Ross Thomas, who declined to comment on the matter Thursday.
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