The plea, which came with no sentencing deal from prosecutors, capped a three-year legal scandal that began with complaints from clients of her Port Richey law firm who said she took their money but did no work. In August 2007, after missing three months of guardianship hearings, she went to jail for 43 days for contempt of court.

The Florida Bar investigated and ultimately kicked her out.

Then came the criminal charges.

Miller, 32, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree grand theft and two counts of third-degree grand theft. She is accused of taking about $3,900 for legal services she never provided, as well as funneling some $65,000 from the trust funds of two divorce clients into her firm’s operating account.

The day she learns her fate will be April 6, when she will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Michael Andrews.

Guidelines call for a sentence of just less than two years in prison, but Miller faces up to 40 years. Prosecutor Chip Stanton plans to seek full restitution for the victims.

He said two of Miller’s victims plan to speak at her sentencing. The others will write letters that Stanton will read to the judge.

Arrested along with Miller last year was Kristen Collins, now Kristen Lausburg, Miller’s paralegal and best friend.

Miller, a married mother of three, told investigators that in three years of owning the law firm, she left all of the financial responsibility to Lausburg — filing taxes, maintaining the payroll and minding the bank accounts, including trust accounts.

But under the Florida Bar’s rules, it is the lawyer alone who is responsible for client funds kept in trust accounts.

Lausburg’s arrest report said Miller allowed Lausburg to pay all of her own bills out of the firm’s accounts instead of paying her a salary.

But beyond just questionable bookkeeping, prosecutors say Miller and Lausburg spent money that wasn’t theirs. With client funds, investigative records say, the two went on shopping trips to Macy’s, Dillard’s, Walmart and Publix.

One Christmas, as a bonus for her employees and their families, Miller took them on a vacation to a South Carolina resort. Her clients footed the bill, investigators said.

Lausburg, 31, also faces up to 40 years in prison after pleading no contest to four counts of grand theft last month. She didn’t have a negotiated plea with prosecutors either, but had agreed to testify against Miller in the trial that was set to begin Monday.

She’ll be sentenced March 25.

The lawyers, who come from three different firms, represent the 10,000 plaintiffs seeking compensation for illnesses caused by working at Ground Zero.

Paul Napoli and Marc Bern of the firm Napoli, Bern, Ripka have the vast majority of cases - some 9,000.

Both men made it big suing the makers of diet drug fen-phen in the late 1990s, when they represented tens of thousands in a class-action suit. Bern boasts on his Web site that he’s earned clients more than $1 billion in settlements over his 30-year career.

About 5,000 clients took Napoli to court and accused him of mishandling the fen-phen settlement, saying he paied
more money to some members of the class action than others. That case is still pending.

The other lawyers in the Ground Zero cases are William Groner of Worby, Groner, Edelman, and Nicholas Papain and Andrew Carboy of Sullivan, Papain, Block, McGrath, and Cannavo.

Together, the firms stand to walk away with some $200 million in legal fees plus millions more in expenses if the proposed settlement is approved.

Mark Kriss, head of Albany-based New Yorkers for Lawsuit Reform, says there’s no law or even ethical code that prevents lawyers from pocketing so much of the settlement.

He thinks there should be.

“We believe personal injury lawyers should be held to the same standard as medical malpractice lawyers, which gives more money to the victims and less money to the trial lawyers,” Kriss said.

Unlike personal injury cases, which have no limit to the amount a lawyer can take from the winnings, medical malpractice lawyers can earn only up to 23%.

While authorities in Brazil initially ruled Gatti’s death a homicide, further study of the crime scene convinced police to change their findings to a suicide.

Unable to live with the ruling that Gatti hung himself, Gatti’s former manager, Pat Lynch, started his own investigation last year. He hired legendary pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to monitor a second autopsy Aug. 1 in Montreal.

The results of that second autopsy, however, have been stuck in a quagmire, complicated by the Brazilian government’s sluggish response to a request for important documents and insufficient staffing in the Quebec coroner’s office.

A spokesman for that office told the Daily News the timetable for when the second autopsy will be made public is unknown. The coroner’s office only recently received a toxicology report from Brazil and a complete police report from the crime scene. Gatti was found dead on July 11.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said the Quebec coroner, Jean Brochu. “We’ve been waiting for the final conclusions of the police report, which I have no idea if they are ready … this is going to take a while.”

Brochu noted that hair and tissue from Gatti were recently screened by the medical legal lab in Montreal as part of a new toxicology report being prepared, “and that may take a century to get the results,” he quipped. “The whole thing is going to take a long while.”

There are only two pathologists in the province of Quebec, which has contributed to the delay.

“That’s a problem that we have - insufficient staff,” said Genevieve Guilbault, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office in Quebec. “So for any case, it’s always too long for the pathologist to send their report because they are overloaded.”

After the pathologist formulates his conclusions, which remain confidential, he will send his report to the coroner’s office, which will then rule on how Gatti died.

Meanwhile, Gatti’s assets in New Jersey, amounting to $3 million, have been frozen, according to attorney John Lynch, Pat’s brother. Gatti’s former wife, Amanda Rodrigues, who was originally suspected in his death, was awarded $2,500 in child support for their son, Arturo Jr., on Oct. 30 in Middlesex County Superior Court. The judge denied any money for her, John Lynch said.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown says actor Corey Haim’s death was linked to a “massive illegal prescription drug ring.” Having confirmed his run for governor (again), Brown is in campaign mode and the pursuit of crime fighting in cases like the death of Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson and now Haim presents high visibility opportunities designed to generate good “protecting the public” stump rhetoric in the upcoming race.  Meanwhile, The San Bernardino County Sentinel’s reporting on efforts to bury any real investigation of probate irregularities perpetrated by the legal industry and creating much harm in the lives of unsuspecting California families is a reminder of another “law and order” issue that AG (and candidate) Brown and other politicians will keep off the campaign trail.

Estate abuse and probate corruption are open secrets which most politicians are happy to keep.  People must understand that being “too busy” to bother with things like voting or having knowledge of the political process or their elected officials opens the door to this type heinous activity.  Government is best when operating in a limited capacity and under the watchful eye of the governed.

In other legal industry news, we’ve got a few LOOT (Lawyers Operating to Optimize their Take) stories.  First, a New York judge has postponed a ruling on a WTC first-responders’ health settlement pending review of what lawyers will make out of the deal. Not surprisingly, the lawyers are in an uproar.

In Florida, BrowardBulldog.org is reporting on Florida’s latest legal industry jobs stimulus program, also known as the Rothstein case.  A judge has been asked to authorize nearly $2.2 million in fees for less than three months work.

The guardian of the estate of the late Max Farash is continuing litigation against various Farash family members. The guardian tried several years ago to sell a piece of the family’s property designated for Farash’s only child in what appeared to be an unnecessary, heavy-handed maneuver.  Along the way, he and others involved benefited from billable hours generated by the dispute this land sale contrived - a trend that appears continuing today.

And though not a lawyer, former Niagara County Treasurer David S. Broderick has been seriously criticized in an audit of estates he handled. A report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli indicates that Broderick used his position as public administrator of estates to benefit friends and family.

The lack of respect for people and their property is mind-boggling.  Click here to read about another elder abuse case.  This one is out of New Mexico and involves two women indicted on charges of Medicaid fraud and elder abuse and neglect.  It seems they were happy to steal from both an elderly victim and taxpayers.

EoD is often asked how to avoid these situations.  Unfortunately, you can’t.  Real reform involving estate abuse perpetrators (including lawyers, judges, public officials) being treated as the criminals they are would be a good start.  For the time being, we hope to at least give you a fighting chance in recognizing the threats that are out there.

Forewarned is forearmed.

An unauthorized prescription in Haim’s name was found during a probe into prescription notepad fraud in San Diego, CNN reports.

California’s Attorney General, Jerry Brown, said the ring uses doctors’ identities to order prescription drug notepads from authorized vendors and then sells them to addicts and dealers.

“Corey Haim’s death is yet another tragedy linked to the growing problem of prescription-drug abuse,” Brown said.

“This problem is increasingly linked to criminal organizations, like the illegal and massive prescription-drug ring under investigation.”

Brown added that many of the doctors whose identities were stolen were unaware that the fraud was taking place.

Haim, a former child star, died Wednesday at the age of 38 of a suspected drug overdose. At the time, the actor was staying with his mother, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, at her apartment in Los Angeles.

An initial autopsy conducted by the L.A. County Coroner revealed the actor had an enlarged heart, pulmonary congestion and water in his lungs at the time of death.

The coroner’s office is currently awaiting the results of a toxicology test, which could take up to six weeks.

According to CNN, Haim bypassed his primary-care doctor and picked up two drugs from a pharmacy 11 days before he died. Several prescription drugs were also found in Haim’s apartment after his death, possibly including Vicodin, Valium and Soma.

Corey Feldman and Marc Heaslip, Haim’s manager, say the actor was seeing an addiction specialist in the weeks prior to his death.

But Tiffany Shepis, the woman who was engaged to Haim last May, has said the actor was abusing Valium and Vicodin during their year together.

“You’re talking about a person that, at the time when I knew him, you know, was ingesting 40 some-odd pills a day,” she said on the HLN show “Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell.”

Heaslip announced Thursday that Haim will be buried in his hometown of Toronto.

The actor rose to fame alongside Feldman in the 1980s with films like “Dream a Little Dream” and “Lost Boys.”

“It’s unfair,” attorney Marc Bern complained after Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein said he was taking a week to figure out how big a cut the lawyers will get.

Bern’s Manhattan firm stands to pocket 35% to 40% of the massive award to cover fees and expenses, a copy of an agreement with a plaintiff shows.

That means a payday of about $200 million if the deal goes through since his firm represents around 9,000 of the 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers who say they were sickened or injured while toiling in The Pit.

An angry Bern told the Daily News he and his associates poured $30 million and thousands of hours into the case “when no other firm in the city would do it.”

He said each of the people his firm represents signed an “individual fee contract.”

“People entered into the contracts willingly,” Bern said. “There’s no reason in the world [those] contracts should not be honored.”

And, he noted, the city burned through more than $200 million of a $1 billion fund defending itself against accusations former Mayor Rudy Giuliani sent the workers into a toxic wasteland without proper equipment.

Hellerstein praised Bern’s firm, saying they did “extraordinary work” and “deserve reasonable compensation.”

Still, the judge said, his job is to ensure the process is “fair and reasonable.” In an earlier 9/11 wrongful death case, Hellerstein capped legal fees at 15%.

Legal fees, the judge said, “are of special attention on my part.”

He also plans to hold a “fairness hearing” on April 12 to give plaintiffs time to comment on it.

Hellerstein’s decision to take a closer look at the agreement appeared to be a surprise to Mayor Bloomberg, who called the proposed deal “a good settlement for everybody” in his weekly radio address.

Even if Hellerstein had given the settlement the green light, it still would have to pass muster with 95% of the plaintiffs. They have 90 days to sign on.

The total award climbs to $657 million if 100% of the victims agree to participate.

There were already rumblings the deal would be a bitter pill for many workers to swallow.

“I’m going to recommend that people say no,” said John Feal, an activist who lost half a foot working in The Pit.

“You expect us to settle for pennies on the dollar while the lawyers walk away with millions? We’re sick and dying, but we’re not stupid.”

While the average award set aside for the grieving relatives of Sept. 11 victims was $392,000, the average settlement amount for ailing Ground Zero heroes would range from $59,773 to $65,750, according to one analysis.

“I’m not good at math, but I know when one number is way bigger than another,” Feal said. “It’s a slap in the face and I don’t think it’s in the best interests of the 9/11 responders.”

Also under the deal, workers who take settlement money would give up the right to receive compensation from an $11 billion fund - named after fallen worker James Zadroga - that’s being considered in Congress. They would still be eligible for health care the bill would provide.

“The plaintiffs in this case are only a fraction of the more than 20,000 Americans who have been identified by the federal government to date as having serious health problems as a direct result of 9/11,” said New York Reps.

Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, the sponsors of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

The News championed the cause of the stricken workers in a series of hard-hitting editorials that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

With Adam Lisberg and Michael McAuliff

Investigations by state Attorney General Gary King’s Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Division led to the indictments.

Authorities say 60-year-old Sherry Hoff of Belen faces up to 12 years in prison after being charged with five felony counts of embezzlement, elder abuse and neglect-exploitation. Hoff is accused of befriending an elderly victim in order to steal his financial assets.

Authorities say 37-year-old Socorro resident Cornelia Mexicano also faces six to 12 years in prison. Mexicano has been indicted on four felony counts of fraud stemming from her submission of fake bills as a care provider.

State auditors who reviewed 15 estates Broderick handled during a five-year period found that he failed to safeguard the decedents’ assets when he administered estates for people who died without wills or had no one qualified to oversee their estates.

The auditors found that Broderick sold assets at prices below their value and contracted with attorneys, real estate agents and appraisers without seeking competition.

“There was a lax operation here that left open the possibility for exploitation,” DiNapoli said this morning during a news conference in Niagara Falls City Hall. “And we have to be sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The Buffalo News in April 2009 reported on questions raised about Broderick’s handling of estate cases in Niagara County.

DiNapoli said he turned the audit findings over to Niagara County District Attorney Michael J. Violante to determine if any laws were broken.

Among the examples cited by auditors:

• There was no evidence that Broderick obtained professional appraisals to determine the value of five houses he sold from estates.

• There was no evidence that Broderick advertised three of the houses before they were sold and no documentation of how he found buyers for the properties.

• He sold three vehicles to a county sheriff’s deputy for a total of $2,000, including a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that may have had “substantial value” to a classic car collector. Auditors said they found local classified advertising listings asking for as much as $38,000 for the same car.

• Broderick sold the contents of one house for $270 in an estate valued at more than $450,000.

Broderick, in a written response included in the audit, said the Monte Carlo was “just a frame with a small engine that did not run,” and that it was sold by the deputy sheriff for parts.

DiNapoli said proving that Broderick purposefully exploited the system is difficult because there is a lack of documentation for many of the items sold.

“Take the case of that car. There was no record, no photograph of the condition of the car. Was it a pristine classic that could have sold for that $38,000 — that Monte Carlo — that we saw a listing of?” DiNapoli said. “Or were the doors hanging off and the headlights busted and was it fair price? We can’t answer that question.”

That’s why, DiNapoli said, there needs to be better documentation and review of the public administrator’s work.

“Certainly, when you don’t have adequate records and when some of the people involved in the transaction have personal relationships with the public administrator, it raises a big question,” DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli also faulted Broderick for using a county-paid secretary to work on the estates.

Broderick, citing health concerns, abruptly quit his post in January after months of public allegations that he had manipulated estates he controlled because of his public position.

The audit examined 15 estates handled by Broderick during the period between January 2004 and October 2009.

Broderick has denied wrongdoing.

“Nowhere in this report does it indicate that a single dollar was missing from an estate,” Broderick wrote in a lengthy response to the audit. “It is the conclusion of this public administrator that your audit is flawed in its methodology, and unfairly, critical of my procedure, without candidly regarding that the audit found NO instance in which any loss occurred during my administration of these many estates.”

Broderick also said that DiNapoli’s referral of the audit to the Niagara County District Attorney was “unwarranted and without any basis.”

In response to Broderick’s criticism of the audit, DiNapoli said simply, “He’s wrong.”

Audit critical of ex-Niagara Co. treasurer
March 12, 2010
Business First of Buffalo
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2010/03/08/daily44.html
The state comptroller’s office chastised the work of the former Niagara County treasurer, concluding David Broderick under valued estates and gave business to family members and friends.

The audit, released Friday, covered the period from January 2004 to October 2009.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Broderick did not take adequate steps to safeguard assets when he administered estates for people who had no one qualified, willing or able to administer their estate. Also, Broderick apparently sold assets at prices below their value, contracted with attorneys, real estate agents and appraisers without seeking competition, and had his county-salaried secretary spend a significant amount of county time performing estate-related work.

DiNapoli has referred his report to the Niagara County District Attorney’s office for review to determine if any laws or statutes were violated.

“There is an expectation, rightfully so, that public servants will act in the public’s best interest. That’s not what happened in Niagara County,” said DiNapoli. “The county treasurer did not take adequate steps to properly value and protect the assets contained in people’s estates.”

Broderick, 71, left his post in January, citing medical issues. He served as public administrator of estates since he began as treasurer more than 30 years ago.

Auditors reviewed Broderick’s processes for the identification, documentation, collection, safeguarding and liquidation of estate assets, cash management, record keeping, and the selection of service providers for 15 estates with gross assets totaling approximately $1.8 million. For administering these estates, the treasurer will receive commissions totaling approximately $73,000.

DiNapoli’s auditors found the county treasurer:

• Sold three vehicles to a county sheriff’s deputy for a total of $2,000. One of them was a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo which may have had substantial value to a classic car collector and/or enthusiast, as auditors found seven listings for 1970 Monte Carlos with asking prices ranging from as low as $9,850 to as high as $38,000;

• For one estate, valued at more than $450,000, which included a house and a significant amount of cash, Broderick sold the contents of the house for $270;

• Did not use a competitive selection process for individuals he retained to perform certain duties, such as attorneys, real estate agents and appraisers; family and acquaintances benefited from estate activities;

• Used his secretary to do estate administration work on county time;

• Did not ensure that assets were adequately identified, collected, safeguarded, appraised, liquidated and properly credited to the estate; and

• Did not control the identification, collection, and sale of assets found during searches of decedents’ premises.

DiNapoli made a series of recommendations to rectify operations within the treasurer’s office.

The report also noted that although an attorney for Broderick indicated his client disagreed with the findings of DiNapoli’s audit, auditors discussed the findings and recommendations with the Surrogate’s Court judges. The judges generally agreed with DiNapoli and have already implemented new procedures that address the findings.

NIAGARA COUNTY: Broderick audit sent to DA
Mark Scheer
March 12, 2010
Niagara Gazette
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_071224429.html
The Niagara County District Attorney’s Office has been asked to review a state comptroller’s audit to determine if former Niagara County Treasurer David Broderick violated any laws or statutes while performing his duties as the county’s public administrator of estates.

In a visit to Niagara Falls City Hall on Friday, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli accused Broderick of “cutting corners” in his handling of estate affairs. He based his assessment on the findings of his audit team, which determined Broderick sold estate assets at below their value, hired attorneys, real estate agents and appraisers without seeking competitive bids, failed to maintain adequate records of transactions and regularly assigned his secretary to perform estate duties on county time.

In a 16-page response, Broderick took exception to many aspects of the audit, suggesting that it was performed without “any defined auditing standards” and “without regard to uniformity.” Broderick suggested that DiNapoli’s staff failed to address a key question about the status of state rules governing the duties of public administrators and ignored “the practical aspects” of dealing with small or difficult estates. Broderick also labeled the comptroller’s office referral of the audit to the DA’s office as “unwarranted and without any basis,” noting that the auditors did not identify any instances where laws were broken or estate assets were missing.

When asked about Broderick’s response, DiNapoli said simply: “He’s wrong.”

“It was a lax operation here that left open the possibility for exploitation and we have to be sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he added.

Attorney: Report ‘flawed’

Broderick resigned in January, citing health problems and an interest in spending more time with his family. His resignation followed a dispute over his handling of the estate of a Lewiston woman whose daughter, Amherst attorney Teresa Snyder, raised questions in court about Broderick’s performance as public administrator. The audit followed after a formal request for a review from county surrogate court judges Matthew Murphy and Sara Sheldon Sperrazza.

As the county’s chief fiscal officer, the county’s treasurer is responsible under state law for overseeing the affairs of individuals who die without wills or have no one qualified or willing to administer their estate.

Reached by telephone on Friday, Broderick’s attorney, George Muscato, said his client considers the audit “flawed” in many respects and noted that DiNapoli’s team did not identify an instance in which any assets were not properly accounted for or had gone missing. Muscato acknowledged that in some instances better accounting practices could have been employed by Broderick, but he insisted his client did his utmost to make sure the assets under his care were handled appropriately. He also insisted that Broderick violated no laws or committed any ethical violations in performing his duties as administrator.

“There’s not a single dime missing from any estate that anybody has complained about,” Muscato said.

Muscato echoed concerns raised by Broderick in his response to the audit, noting that the review was requested by Murphy and Sperrazza in an effort to address questions about the Report and Guidelines of the Administrative Board for the Offices of Public Administrator, a set of state rules for public administrators that was developed in 1995.

Muscato, County Attorney Claude Joerg and other assistant county attorneys have consistently maintained that those rules , which, among other things, bar administrators from doing business with relatives, were never ratified and, therefore, cannot be enforced. Broderick and Muscato say not only did the auditors fail to answer those questions, but never applied the guidelines in performing the audit.

“They can say whatever they want to say, but these allegations are unsubstantiated,” Muscato said.

“I think that Mr. Broderick has been a public servant for 37 years and it’s unfortunate that at the end of his career he has been confronted with these issues,” Muscato added.

DiNapoli referred questions about the public administration rules to the state Office of Court Administration.

Officials from that office have previously indicated that public administrators are barred from “self-dealing” or involving relatives in estate business. DiNapoli noted that many of the issues raised in audit refer to instances in which Broderick acted outside the bounds of commonly accepted practices for individuals holding public office of any kind.

“Very clearly, there are sound practices that public officials involved with managing estates should be incorporating as part of looking out for the people’s business,” DiNapoli said.

Correcting past mistakes

District Attorney Michael Violante issued a letter in January 2009 in which he indicated that his office found no indication of any wrongdoing on Broderick’s part and concluded that no county employees were assigned to the former treasurer’s estate-related work. In the letter to Snyder, Violante said his office investigated her concerns about Broderick’s estate dealings and found “no violations of the general municipal law or the penal law have occurred.”

DiNapoli said the audit was referred to the county District Attorney’s office as a matter of common practice.

“We’re not a law enforcement entity. We are not lawyers. We are not involved in that end of it,” DiNapoli said. “We do an audit. When there are unresolved questions we then refer it for those who have a responsibility for answering those questions.”

DiNapoli suggested county lawmakers take a close look at the recommendations from his office and take any necessary steps to ensure that public resources will be used appropriately where future estate work is concerned. He noted that the county surrogate’s court judges have indicated a willingness to follow the recommendations.

“Obviously, there have been some significant issues here,” DiNapoli said. “The individual we are talking about has resigned. Someone new is coming on very soon. I think we’ve given a very professional and a very clear road map on how to do things the right way here.”

He pointed to the use of the county employee in the treasurer’s office for estate work as something worthy of further investigation.

“If there’s money being paid for the public administrator for work and work is being done by someone else on the county payroll, it would raise an obvious question about reimbursement to the county,” DiNapoli said.

The comptroller said the goal now is to ensure that the county’s public administration work is handled with a higher level of professionalism.

“The key point of it is, how do we put a government operation back on a stronger and more positive path to look out for the interests of the citizens of the community,” DiNapoli said. “I think in this case, we’ve seen a very positive response to what we’ve been laying out and we look forward to a better public administrator role here in Niagara County as we move forward.”

In recent days, new lawyers have joined the case, requests have been made to delay some proceedings and other requests made to move those proceedings to a new judge. Behind the scenes, legal work needed to transfer almost all of Farash’s wealth to his family foundation has begun.

And Farash’s grand-nephew, Matthew Aroesty, is scheduled to be arraigned today on a felony charge that he misappropriated thousands of dollars from his great-uncle’s company.

Farash, who was 95 when he died in a nursing home on Feb. 28, built a fortune worth an estimated $400 million. He had been declared mentally incapacitated three years earlier, and his business affairs managed by a court-appointed guardian, James C. Gocker.

The guardianship ended when Farash died, but Gocker now is trustee of a trust that will manage Farash’s assets. He said he was handling “all the issues you deal with when someone passes away,” though his principal task was determining “how best to make this transition to the foundation so the highest value is actually transferred to the foundation. That is a not-uncomplicated matter.”

If estimates of the size of Farash’s fortune are accurate, it likely would become the largest charitable foundation in the Rochester area, making millions of dollars of gifts annually.

Gocker, a Rochester lawyer, is one of several parties who brought a pair of civil suits against Aroesty and Lynn Farash, the only child of Max Farash and his late wife, Marian. The suits, filed in January, seek recovery of more than $12 million of Max and Marian Farash’s money that their daughter and grand-nephew are accused of diverting for their own use.

The grand-larceny charge against Aroesty similarly alleges he used more than $50,000 of Farash Corp. money for his own purposes in 2002 and 2003, when he was an executive at Farash Corp.

Lawyers for Aroesty have asked for an indefinite delay in the two civil cases, saying in court filings that he cannot afford to defend against both criminal and civil charges at the same time, and he likely would have to invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination if questioned in the civil cases.

Lynn Farash, meanwhile, has filed papers seeking to delay action in the case for 90 days, in part because she had been unable to help with her defense while mourning for her father.

The extension also would allow her new team of lawyers to get up to speed.

The team includes Harvey Corn, a Manhattan trusts and estates lawyer who helped defend the son of the late New York socialite Brooke Astor. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, was convicted last year of defrauding his late mother.
Corn said Thursday that he could not yet comment on the case.

State Supreme Court Justice John Ark, who oversaw the guardianship for its final 17 months, has scheduled an April 1 hearing on the delay requests.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the two cases, however, have filed papers asking that they be transferred to Justice Kenneth Fisher.

Gocker said the move was justified because Fisher already has a similar case involving Robert Aroesty, Matthew’s brother.

Robert Aroesty, who also was a Farash Corp. executive, sued the company last year for wrongly firing him and denying him retirement and other benefits. The company countersued, claiming he had engaged in the same sort of improper conduct as his brother and Lynn Farash. That case is pending.

More than $1.2 million of the fees were billed by Berger Singerman, a South Florida law firm.

“It is a significant amount of money, and there will be significant legal fees that will continue to accrue. There is a massive amount of work,” said firm partner and bankruptcy expert Paul Singerman.

Others that asked for large initial fees in the case last week: Miami accounting firm Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant ($611,640) and Miami law firm Genovese Joblove & Battista ($324,805).

Each of the firms has agreed to accept much less now than they claim they are owed — 65 percent less in Berger Singerman’s case — because there’s not enough money in the bankruptcy estate of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. If their requests are approved, they would be entitled to receive that money later if funds are recovered.

Singerman said he did not know how much cash and assets were currently in RRA’s bankruptcy estate. He declined to speculate about how high his firm’s fees might go.

Fort Lauderdale U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Raymond B. Ray has set a 10-minute hearing on April 7 to consider whether to approve the fees.

RRA collapsed in November. On Dec. 1, federal agents arrested Rothstein on charges of running a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme out of RRA’s offices in the Bank of America building in downtown Fort Lauderdale. He pleaded guilty in January and is cooperating, but faces decades in prison when he is sentenced in May.

The lawyers and accountants were hired by Chapter 11 trustee Herbert Stettin to recover money for Rothstein’s victims and other creditors.

The firms filed hundreds of pages of detailed billing sheets and other paperwork.

The paperwork shows that 19 lawyers with Berger Singerman billed for the case — most at rates in excess of $400 an hour. Six Berger Singerman lawyers billed upward of $500 an hour.

The highest rate — $560 an hour — was billed by Singerman and colleague Charles Lichtman.

Singerman is co-chief executive officer of the firm along with partner Mitchell W. Berger, a former member of President Bill Clinton’s transition team in 1992-93 and a senior adviser to Al Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign.

Lichtman, a fraud specialist, was lead counsel for Florida Democrats during the 2008 election. Before that, he served as special lead counsel in Florida for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and co-lead counsel for the Democratic Party in the 2000 presidential election recount.

In addition to the lawyers, 13 paraprofessionals at the firm billed hourly rates of $185 to $195.

In all, the firm reported that during the case’s first 12 weeks its employees billed a total of 3,468.5 hours at an average hourly rate of $354.90

Berger Singerman’s application to the court for fees goes into great detail about the firm’s legal work. It says much of what was done the first three months involved “exploring and developing the claims that the trustee plans to bring in the near future.”

“Although much of this background work has not yet resulted in substantial litigation recoveries, this preparatory work is essential in a case of this nature and magnitude.”

One of those cases, seeking more than $1 million, was filed Wednesday against Rothstein’s wife, Kim.

Accountants at Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant told the court the $611,000 they seek reflects an average hourly rate of $222 for 2,749 hours. The Genovese law firm reported working 804.5 hours at an average rate of $404 an hour.

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