State sues TV’s ‘tax lady’ for alleged swindles
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

A Sacramento County attorney who bills herself as the “tax lady,” appearing in nationwide television ads offering to help people with tax problems, was sued Monday for $34 million by state Attorney General Jerry Brown for allegedly swindling thousands of people.

Instead of reducing clients’ tax bills, Roni Deutch put people deeper in debt by placing them “in an endless loop of requests” for duplicate documents that resulted in higher fees and penalties from the Internal Revenue Service, and by falsely billing them for services she never rendered, Brown said.

His lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, claims that Deutch made misleading representations and engaged in unfair competition while victimizing thousands of people in California and elsewhere.

An attorney for Deutch did not respond to a request for comment.

Deutch operates a law firm in North Highlands (Sacramento County) that employs 160 people and generates about $25 million a year in revenue while spending $3 million annually on TV and radio ads, the suit said.

Brown said Deutch operates a high-pressure “boiler room” in which sales agents who cannot meet her law firm’s monthly goals are fired. “She screams at and berates sales agents who are not performing adequately,” the suit said.

Sales agents who meet or exceed quotas receive “lavish bonuses and incentives,” including all-expenses-paid trips to Hawaii and Las Vegas, Brown said in court papers.

“Deutch is engaged in a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems,” Brown said. “She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills.”

Deutch has faced similar allegations before.

In 2006, she agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs that claimed she had misled consumers with TV commercials promising settlements of back-tax problems “for only $20″ or “without paying anything to the IRS.”

Deutch, a graduate of UC Berkeley and Western State University College of Law, has no public record of discipline in California, records show. She was admitted to the State Bar in 1991.

Read more: San Francisco Chronicle

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Would You Wear This To Work?

By Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel

A lawyer who committed more than 50 ethical violations in 13 cases in his short career had his license to practice revoked Friday.

Michael C. Trudgeon, (Marquette, ‘03), had been suspended from practice since 2008 for failing to report compliance with continuing legal education requirements and failing to cooperate with an Office of Lawyer Regulation investigation.

Trudgeon, 43, lives in Wauwatosa but had his practice in Beloit, according to records.

In 2009, he received a public reprimand, and the OLR filed the latest complaint. Of the 56 counts, Trudgeon admitted some and pleaded no contest to others, according to the Supreme Court’s order.

The order shows Trudgeon continued practicing after his suspension, tried to bargain away a client’s obligation to pay child support, and asserted he represented someone when he didn’t.

Additionally, a referee found, Trudgeon:

failed to maintain confidentiality of files which he had left unsecured. Additional misconduct included the lack of diligence in client matters, failing to communicate with clients, failing to refund an unearned fee, trust account violations, engaging in an ex-parte communication with the court, and making a false statement to a tribunal.

Lastly, he failed to show for a jury trial and kept nearly $25,000 of a settlement for a client in a car accident case.

The court ordered Trudgeon to pay nearly $32,000 in costs and restitution.

By Diana Hefley
Herald Writer

A former Lynnwood attorney was arrested Wednesday night after he was caught allegedly smuggling heroin to inmates in the Snohomish County Jail, according to court papers filed this morning.

Patrick J. Mullen, 63, allegedly told detectives that he’d become addicted to prescription pain killers several years ago after undergoing hip surgery. Mullen said that more recently he’d become addicted to heroin, according to a police affidavit. Mullen said that he agreed to smuggle heroin to inmates and in return he kept a portion of the drugs for his personal use.

Mullen resigned as an attorney in March in lieu of being disbarred, according to the Washington Bar Association. He was first admitted to the bar in 1976 and practiced criminal defense and civil litigation.

The bar association had learned that Mullen in 2006 had taken more than $5,000 from a client in a child custody case but failed to do any work or communicate with the client. After a year, the client fired Mullen and the lawyer agreed to pay the client back $4,190. Mullen has never repaid the client, according to the bar association.

His resignation was based on “conduct involving failure to communicate, trust account irregularities, and dishonesty.”

Despite his resignation as an attorney, Mullen continued to meet with inmates at the jail and identified himself as a lawyer, according to police. Records show that Mullen visited several inmates every five to six days from mid-May through July. Sometimes he would have back-to-back visits.

Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force detectives were tipped off in July by a confidential source who had heard that an attorney was smuggling in drugs. On Wednesday, investigators learned that Mullen was planning to return to the jail, reportedly carrying heroin.

Mullen showed up and identified himself as an attorney and filled out a visitation form. He was escorted to the visitation room to wait for his client to be brought down from the detention area. That’s when police moved in and made the arrest.

A small balloon believed filled with heroin was found in his jacket, according to the police affidavit.

Mullen explained to investigators that initially an inmate had asked him if he could bring in drugs to the jail. Mullen told police he was hesitant at first and started by bringing in chewing tobacco.

Over time, the former lawyer said he started smuggling in heroin. He said associates of the inmates would meet him and provide the drug. He said he kept some for his personal use and then would deliver the rest during attorney-client visits at the jail, the detective wrote.

Mullen told investigators that he’d also smuggled heroin to an inmate on Tuesday at the Whatcom County Jail. That inmate had been transferred from Snohomish County Jail.

Mullen was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of introducing contraband and possession with intent to deliver. He is expected to appear this afternoon in Everett District Court.

Attorneys must provide identification to jail staff and are screened for weapons or other contraband, said Jeff Miller, a chief with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office oversees the jail.

Sheriff’s officials said today that they don’t receive notification when an attorney is disbarred or is forced to resign. In light of yesterday’s arrest, they plan to review the process to see if there is a way to work with the bar association to get notice in the future, Miller said.

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By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

A suspended lawyer awaiting sentencing in federal court for bank fraud for bilking millions from a trust account has been charged with robbing the Town Bank branch in Wales on June 12.

Peter T. Elliott, 62, of Summit is accused of taking $9,516 during the robbery, according to a criminal complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

In a separate case, Elliott is charged in Waukesha County with possession of a firearm in a school zone and carrying a concealed weapon.

According to criminal complaints filed against him, Elliott was arrested July 22 by a sheriff’s deputy who had responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot at Kettle Moraine High School in Wales.

The deputy saw Elliott in the car and believed there was a “strong possibility” Elliott was involved in the robbery, court documents state. Elliott looked like the suspect in bank photographs taken on the day of the robbery and Elliott’s vehicle matched the description of the car the robber used, records state.

The deputy searched Elliott’s vehicle and found a silver handgun in a pouch on the back of the passenger side front seat, according to the complaint.

During questioning by authorities, Elliott allegedly admitted robbing the bank but said he did not have a gun with him during the heist.

Two bank employees, though, told investigators that Elliott said he had a gun during the robbery, which occurred minutes after noon June 12 at the bank branch on Summit Ave. in Wales.

After taking the money, he told them to lie down and the floor and count to 500, the complaint says. One of the tellers told investigators that Elliott said, “I have an accomplice watching you from the parking lot. If you try anything, we’ll both be back.”

Elliott told investigators robbing the bank was “quite easy” and that he used $2,600 of the money to get his daughter’s vehicle out of hock, the complaint says. He used the rest of the money to pay past due utility bills and for living expenses, the complaint says.

He also told detectives that he had a federal criminal case pending for stealing $2.5 million from a trust account, the complaint says.

In the federal case, Elliott has pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 25. He faces a maximum prison term of 30 years. Three other bank fraud counts filed against him are expected to be dismissed at sentencing as part of a plea bargain.

He was charged in July 2009 in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.

According to the four-page charging document, Elliott became a lawyer in 1974 and, as part of his practice, maintained an Interest on Lawyers Trust Account at Associated Bank. That is an account in which an attorney holds funds for clients. The funds can be used only by or on behalf of the client.

In the late 1990s, Elliott began to occasionally use the trust account for personal purposes, the document says. Over 10 years, Elliott diverted about $2.5 million out of the trust funds for himself, according to the document, which does not say how the money was spent.

To cover his withdrawals, Elliott operated a check-kiting scheme in which he would write checks from his personal Wells Fargo account and deposit them into the trust account at Associated Bank, the document says.

Elliott would withdraw money out of the trust account for himself and then stop payment on his personal Wells Fargo check, the document says.

In four weeks in fall 2008, Elliott deposited and stopped payment on 57 checks totaling $35 million, according to the document. However, Elliott is suspected only of taking $2.5 million for himself.

Elliott’s law license was suspended in January by the state Supreme Court after he refused to participate in an investigation by the Office of Lawyer Regulation, according to documents.

In the Waukesha County cases, Elliott appeared in court on Wednesday and asked for a court-appointed attorney. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 16.

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