On Tuesday, January 31, 2023, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility rejected the recommendation to suspend attorney George A. Teitelbaum over the case of mishandling entrusted funds.

The case is entitled “In the matter of George A. Teitelbaum” and was brought by the Hearing Committee with case no. 22-BG-906,

The charges cited D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct 1.15(a) which states:

Failing to maintain sufficient records of his handling of entrusted funds.

The Rules of Professional Misconduct can be found here.

Allegedly, the respondent was charged for his engagement in misappropriation in addition to the record-keeping violations for his failure to maintain sufficient records while handling entrusted funds.

The filing states:

“The D.C. Superior Court appointed Respondent to serve as a co-personal representative with Jose Morgan of the Estate of Ora Lee Workman. Respondent attempted to obtain monthly bank statements, but was unable to do so, and stopped trying. Respondent was unconcerned that funds might be improperly disbursed because he retained control of the Estate’s checkbook. However, he did not know that bank fees were being withdrawn from the Estate account, and he did not obtain the bank statements, which reflected these fees.”

The filing continues

“After Respondent filed a final accounting approved by the Superior Court and paid all of the legatees, Mr. Morgan received notice that the Estate account was overdrawn by $256.81. The respondent was unable to explain the reason for the Overdraft.

The account was overdrawn, in part, because Respondent did not factor in the withdrawn bank fees when calculating the distribution of the Estate funds to the legatees. But the bank fees do not explain the total shortfall.’ Despite the overdraft, the bank paid the check, and then closed the account. Thus, all of the legatees received the amounts due to them.”

The parties then had an agreed-upon resolution regarding the matter. The Hearing Committee recommended that in violation of the abovementioned charges, the respondent should be suspended for 30 days with proof of fitness prior to reinstatement.

However, the Hearing Committee expressed reservations as to whether the proposed sanction in lieu of the violation was justified because it also recognized that “whether Respondent’s overdraft from the estate account involved misappropriation depends on the application of the law to the agreed-upon facts”. For these reasons, the court stated that since the current record has not been fully developed on the misappropriation issue, they cannot be sure that Disciplinary Counsel has not offered an unduly lenient sanction.

The Disposition states:

“For the foregoing reasons, we recommend that the Court reject the Hearing Committee’s recommendation.”

As of today, Mr. Teitelbaum is listed on the website of the Law Offices of George Teitelbaum. His info can be found on lawyers.justia.com. He attended Washington College of Law of the American University, graduating in 1980. He practices in Washington, District of Columbia.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.