US Lawyer Disbarred For False Expenses, Trip
A court in Maryland, USA disbarred an American attorney for cheating his clients and a law firm out of nearly $15,000 by padding his expense reports during a seven-year period, including billing his firm for a trip to Bermuda.
The Maryland Daily record reported, “Maryland’s top court has disbarred a Bethesda attorney for cheating not his clients but the law firm he co-founded out of nearly $15,000 by padding his expense reports during a seven-year period.
“Keith M. Bonner engaged in ‘knowing and intentional dishonesty’ in seeking compensation from the firm Bonner Kiernan Trebach & Crociata LLP for the client development work he claimed to have performed between 2012 and 2019, the Court of Appeals stated in its 7-0 decision this month.
“Montgomery County Circuit Judge Harry C. Storm found that Bonner booked a flight to Bermuda with his wife and four children in July 2012. Bonner then asked one of the firm’s clients, who kept an office on the island, if he would be there when the family arrived in August.
“Despite the client’s negative response, Bonner went forward with the family trip and charged $3,070.11 to the law firm’s credit card for the Bermuda expenses, Storm found.
“Bonner later told the firm’s finance director that the client had invited him to Bermuda, that the expenses were for client development and that Bonner had in fact not reported all of his client-related expenses. Bonner also told his firm partners that the client had invited him.
“However, when pressed by his partners, Bonner ultimately confessed. The partners regarded this as a one-time offense and simply requested that Bonner return the $3,070.11, which he did.
“But three years later, Bonner resumed misappropriating from the firm, Storm found. Bonner charged more than $11,000 in personal expenses by claiming they were for client development between 2015 and 2019. These expenses included $1,400 for air travel and hotel accommodations in San Francisco; $1,100 in Amtrak travel and hotel accommodations in New York; and $1,300 in meals, according to Storm.”
The U.S. court ruling said, “On July 23, 2012, Mr. Bonner booked flights to Bermuda for himself, his wife, and their four children
“While in Bermuda, Mr. Bonner did not perform any work or client development” and “improperly charged $3,070.11 to the Firm’s American Express credit card for his family’s personal hotel and restaurant expenses.”
“Mr. Bonner also submitted false time entries for August 15–18, 2012, which reflected eight hours of non-billable time each day.
“The hearing judge determined that Mr. Bonner made knowing and intentional misrepresentations that he had engaged in client development activities in Bermuda to conceal the personal nature of his expenses for which he was seeking reimbursement
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