T&E Lawyer Drains Client's Estate, Arrested Playing Video Poker in Casino

The following is from Kim Martineau, Lawyer Arrested at Casino Suspected of Siphoning Money from Elderly Woman's Estate, Hartford Courant, July 19, 2007:

A Wallingford attorney accused of draining the estate of an elderly widow, potentially to cover heavy gambling losses, was arrested Wednesday [July 18, 2007] while playing video poker at Mohegan Sun. ...

A year ago, 99-year-old Elsie Nolds suffered a stroke. Not long after Nolds arrived at the hospital, her attorney, [Richard] Hannan, appeared at her bedside, offering to pay her bills through power of attorney. At the time, Nolds had $183,000 in stock and savings. Today, police suspect most of that money is gone. ...

During their investigation, police discovered Hannan had cashed his client's $100,000 savings CD and secretly placed her cash into his law firm account, according to court papers. He had also written checks from her account to his firm and sold off her stock without permission, the state complaint says. The money appeared to be flowing to one place: Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Montville. When police looked at Hannan's records they saw pages of red ink. Between 2005 and 2006, he had racked up more than $400,000 in losses, the state complaint says. The alleged misconduct has stunned lawyers in Wallingford, where Hannan runs a practice on Main Street with his son, Gregg Hannan, handling probate and real estate matters.

Special thanks to Prof. Paul Caron for bringing this article to my attention.