Lawyer stole $500K from Greenberg Traurig
Headline News
Metro Atlanta attorney Michael Shaw pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $500,000 from Atlanta law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.
Shaw, a 37-year-old resident of Mableton, Ga., worked as an associate attorney at Greenberg Traurig, specializing in bankruptcy and commercial-foreclosure litigation. From 2003 to 2009, Shaw regularly performed investigative services for clients himself, but submitted invoices in the name of an investigator who also worked for the firm. These invoices totaled $90,000.
At the same time, Shaw performed title-examination services for clients himself, but submitted invoices to the firm in the name of a fictitious vendor. He obtained the vendor’s social security number from federal bankruptcy filings and submitted fraudulent W-9 forms in the vendor’s name. These invoices totaled $425,000.
For almost six years, Shaw regularly performed work for clients, submitted fraudulent invoices to the firm’s accounting department, received checks, endorsed the checks over to himself, and deposited the funds into his personal checking account. He also continued to receive his regular law firm salary.
In June 2009, the law firm completed a client’s billing review, discovered the misconduct and fired Shaw. He was also disbarred by the Georgia State Bar.
He now faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is set for Jan. 5, 2011.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.