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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Accused Schererville attorney withdraws law license"

Andy Grimm reports today in the Chicago Tribune in a story that begins:

A Schererville attorney charged with stealing money from his clients has given up his law license.

William Crabtree II formally resigned from the state bar last week, ending an investigation by the state Supreme Court Disciplinary committee into transactions in his firm's trust account that apparently show the attorney shuffling hundreds of thousands of dollars in money belonging to two clients in 2007 and 2008.

Crabtree still faces criminal charges in federal court, but the state Supreme Court has ended disciplinary proceedings that could have seen him disbarred. Crabtree will have to wait at least five years to apply to the disciplinary commission to have his license reinstated, court spokeswoman Kathleen Dolan said Wednesday.

A grand jury in October filed fraud charges against Crabtree, alleging that from 2007 to August 2008, he failed to pay some $350,000 in estate taxes on a clients' $1.4 million inheritance, then took money from another clients' account to cover the missing funds.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 18, 2008 09:15 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts