Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- David L. Spector, a lawyer from Needham, Mass., is under investigation in Massachusetts and Rhode Island regarding allegations that he took more than $500,000 he was supposed to pay banks in connection with refinancings for four clients, one of them a Westerly woman, according to David D. Curtin, the state Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel.

No criminal charges have been filed, according to Curtin, but he said that the Westerly woman, Doris Krakow, has filed a complaint with the Rhode Island State Police.

Currently, there are ethics complaints against Spector brought by Curtin's office and the Board of Bar Overseers in Massachusetts. Spector was licensed to practice in both states but was suspended in June 2008 in Rhode Island for failure to pay his bar dues. His license in Massachusetts was temporarily suspended on March 11 of this year after three clients in that state complained to the Board of Bar Overseers that he had wrongfully converted a total of $350,525.97 to his own use instead of paying off lending institutions where they had had mortgages, according to Curtin.

Asked what Spector did with the half-million-dollars he is suspected of having pocketed, Curtin said, "It looks like he used it for personal use" and office expenses.

The specifics of the Massachusetts cases have not been publicly disclosed, Curtin said, but in a complaint he filed with the Rhode Island Supreme Court that was made public on Friday, Curtin claims that in 2007, Spector pocketed $150,369.42 from ING Bank that should have been forwarded to Washington Mutual Bank to pay off an existing mortgage Krakow held before deciding to refinance with ING.

As a result, Curtin said, Krakow is now saddled with two mortgages on her residence in Westerly -- though he said negotiations are underway with her title insurance company to cover what Spector wrongfully took.

In an answer to Curtin's 15-point complaint, Spector admitted all but two of the allegations against him.

Curtin is asking that the court's disciplinary board hold a hearing in connection with the ethics charges he has filed. The ethics charges accuse Spector not only of pocketing proceeds that were supposed to be used to pay off Krakow's Washington Mutual mortgage, but also of making out a false HUD settlement statement attesting that he had disbursed the funds as he was supposed to.

 Tags  David L. Spector legal ethics Westerly RI

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