A lawyer from Bad Salzuflen was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for commercial breach of trust. And a former lawyer and notary from Herford, who has already given his license, must expect charges this year – he is said to have embezzled almost one million euros.
In Bad Salzuflen it was an inheritance that lawyer U. (61) was supposed to take care of as executor. A Bad Salzufler left around 270,000 euros in 2018. The lawyer was supposed to pay outstanding bills and pay out the remaining money to the heirs – the compulsory portion to the son, the rest to three non-family members. While the lawyer transferred 115,000 euros to the son, the other heirs have only received part of their money to this day. Attorney Karsten Martens from Bückeburg, who represents an heiress: “My client was repeatedly put off. We had to sue the executor at the Detmold regional court in order to get a list of the estate at all. ”In the civil trial that took place in August, the lawyer then submitted a list, but it was incomplete. “For example, the deceased’s Mercedes was missing.”
At the time of the civil proceedings, the Detmold public prosecutor had already completed an investigation against the lawyer and brought charges. According to unconfirmed information, it is said to have been a money laundering report from a bank that the authorities tracked down the lawyer in 2018.
On Tuesday, the 61-year-old only stood in front of the Lemgo district court and made a confession. According to the judge, lawyer U. transferred money 22 times from the deceased’s account to his private account, his office account or his financial account at a bank. In total it should have been 61,023 euros. According to the court, the lawyer’s current account was in the overdraft facility at the time of the crime, which could have been a possible motive. The defendant himself stated that he only wanted to transfer an advance fee and lost track of it. The 61-year-old must now expect the Westphalian Bar Association to withdraw his license.
The former lawyer and notary B. (70) from Herford has not had a license for some time. After six years of investigation, the Bielefeld Regional Court wants to decide in the coming weeks whether the Herford will be tried, which is what everything speaks for at the moment.
District court spokesman Guiskard Eisenberg: “We have two charges against the man.” The ex-lawyer would be accused of twelve cases of infidelity with a total loss of 887,000 euros, as well as an attempted insurance fraud amounting to 1.4 million euros. The crimes are said to have occurred in connection with real estate transactions. According to earlier information from the Westphalian Chamber of Notaries, clients are said to have believed they were transferring money to a so-called notarial trust account. In fact, it is said to have been a Herforder’s private account. B. is supposed to have used the money for himself. When clients became restless, the lawyer allegedly took other clients’ money to fulfill sales contracts. Due to such shifts, the alleged acts went undetected for a long time. Until the notary got over his head in 2016. He showed up and returned his permits. The accused attempted insurance fraud concerns the allegation that B. is said to have reported damage to the notary insurance fund that should not have occurred in order to get money.
In the case of the Herford lawyer, too, lack of money is a possible motive. The lawyer is said to never have lived on a large scale, but to have taken on real estate deals. His liabilities are said to have been in the high six figures.
–
