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People who had money stolen by their lawyers collect $1.3 million

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 5, 2009 12:41 PM

By Globe Staff

A disbarred attorney from Southbridge who fleeced his own mother leads this year’s list from the Client Security Board of lawyers who stole from clients and then saw some of the money returned to their victims.

The Client Security Board uses fees from lawyers, not tax dollars, to repay victims of thieving attorneys. In its fiscal year 2009, $1.3 million was paid out to 83 clients who had insurance payments diverted, trust funds drained, or never got the check in the mail they were supposed to from their attorney, the board said.

The misdeeds of Adrian Gaucher Jr. earned top dishonor. “In short, he fleeced his mother out of almost everything she had,’’ a bankruptcy court judge said of Gaucher, according to the board.

His mother has died, but a special administrator charged with recapturing the stolen money is to be paid $243,498, the board said.

According to the board, the attorneys most likely to steal practice in the area of trusts and estates, accounting for nearly 35 percent, or $463,726 of the total payout.

In its annual report, the board also noted that the percentage of attorneys breaking their moral, ethical, and legal obligations is .06 percent of the 53,071 practicing lawyers in Massachusetts.