Disbarred NJ Lawyer Beats the Rap in Misappropriation Case
A New Jersey lawyer who was disbarred for misappropriating mortgage settlement funds can’t be criminally convicted for the same conduct, a state appeals court ruled today.
Because prosecutors didn’t charge Lawrence Coven in time, a three-judge appellate panel held, the criminal case against him concerning four mortgage refinancings was properly dismissed by a trial court, reports the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger.
The refinancings occurred between September 2001 and January 2002. Although Coven’s clients thought their prior mortgage loans had been paid off at closing, in fact he used some of the settlement money wired to his client trust account for personal expenses and debt payments and meanwhile simply continued to make monthly payments on the old loans, according to the written opinion today in the case. Eventually, after clients discovered that their prior mortgages hadn’t been paid off, Coven repaid the loans in full.
“Coven was indicted in November 2007, which the appeals judges said was within the five-year statute of limitation from the time he repaid the loans, but beyond five years from the time he misappropriated the funds wired to him” by financial institutions to pay off the prior mortgages, the newspaper writes. They also noted that Coven was disbarred in April 2002, making his misuse of the money a matter of public record at that time.
Coven’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a Star-Ledger request for comment, and a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office said no decision has yet been made about whether to appeal today’s decision.
