Ex-MoFo Partner Arrested in Alleged Autism Fraud
A lawyer who until this year was a partner at Morrison & Foerster has been arrested on charges that he submitted almost $400,000 in fraudulent bills for the homeschooling of his autistic son.
Intellectual property lawyer Jonathan Dickstein and his wife, marketing consultant Barclay Lynn, are free on bond, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Prosecutors claim the couple created a dummy company, ostensibly to create treatment plans for their son, and used it to bill both the San Francisco school district and insurers for the same services. According to prosecutors, the company was not licensed to provide autism instruction, the story says.
Dickstein’s lawyer, Garrick Lew, told the Chronicle he hopes to “try to work something out” with prosecutors. He said Dickstein and Lynn were devoted to their son. “They put a lot of work into getting whatever the child needed,” he said. “In the process of getting all those needs met, there were problems.” Lynn’s lawyer told the newspaper that there was “some indication that their conduct could be construed as lawful.”
