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Fake Lawyer Sent to Jail.
It looks like a California convicted felon, who
managed to pose as a lawyer and represent hundreds of clients, has been
sent away on an all expenses paid 12 1/2 year trip up the river.
Harold David Goldstein told the federal judge at his sentencing hearing
that he made sincere efforts to represent his clients despite his lack of
a law license. I guess the sincere part of his explanation must have been
a dead giveaway that he wasn't a lawyer.
Goldstein stated that he won 25 cases in the eight months that he operated
a busy Newport Beach law practice. Hmmm, doesn't it kind of make you
wonder how the 25 so-called real lawyers who lost to Goldstein feel right
about now?
"I lied about being a lawyer but other than the lie, everything else was
totally legit," Goldstein said. Hey, give the guy his props. At least he
had the lying part of being a lawyer down pat.
Among the hundreds of clients Goldstein represented in his brief but
eventful 'fake lawyer' stint were many immigrants at deportation hearings.
A jury convicted Goldstein of perjury in August, 2003 and he pleaded
guilty to fraud. He was arrested six months earlier after a former partner
in his law firm discovered the deception and contacted authorities.
Goldstein has other convictions dating to the 1970s when he was found
guilty of defrauding 13,000 investors in a commodities scheme and selling
$1 million in phony gold contracts.
In 1980, the Los Angeles County district attorney charged him with
stealing $4 million from small businesses seeking loans at a phony
overseas bank that he and a partner established. He was sentenced to 10
years in prison but released in 1986.
And who says crime doesn't pay?
Source: FindLaw.com, AP, "Fake Lawyer Sentenced to 12 Years,"
March 24, 2005.
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