The Florida Bar confirmed Tuesday that it will open ethics investigations against Hunton & Williams partner Carlos Loumiet and Greenberg Traurig shareholder Robert L. Grossman in connection with their work for Greenberg on behalf of now-defunct Hamilton Bank.
"Files are going to be opened up on Mr. Loumiet and Mr. Grossman," said Bar counsel William Mulligan, who works for the lawyer-regulation branch of the Bar's legal division. "A grievance file will be opened and at some point they will be requested to respond. . . ."
[T]he OCC alleges that in their reports Loumiet and Grossman made "materially false and misleading assertions," "suppress[ed] material evidence," and "conceal[ed] the crimes" of Hamilton Bank's top officers, who "orchestrated unlawful transactions in order to hide the Bank's losses resulting from the Russian debt crisis of 1998."
The OCC's notice of charges also cited several conflicts of interest that allegedly caused Loumiet to breach his fiduciary duty to the bank, engage in unsound practices in putting together the reports, and break at least two rules of the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct that relate to conflict of interest.
The article notes that Greenberg has already "paid out more than $8.5 million in settlements to two federal agencies in connection with the Hamilton matter." Details here from the Daily Business Review via Law.com.