Attorney gambled clients’ money at casinos, then faked terminal cancer, CA officials say
A California attorney has been disbarred after officials say he used more than $115,000 in clients’ payments “to feed his gambling habit” and then lied about having terminal cancer to delay disciplinary action.
The California Supreme Court’s order to disbar Manhattan Beach attorney Sergio Valdovinos Ramirez, effective Friday, Oct. 18, comes after he was found culpable of 19 ethical violations, the State Bar of California said in a Monday, Oct. 21, news release.
McClatchy News was not able to reach Valdovinos Ramirez for comment.
The State Bar Court Hearing Department first recommended his disbarment in July 2023, and the State Bar Court’s Review Department ruled in agreement June 2024, officials said.
“Mr. Valdovinos Ramirez cheated his clients out of their funds, in part, to feed his gambling habit. He then showed no remorse and lied about a life-threatening illness to avoid taking responsibility for his misconduct,” chief trial counsel George Cardona said in the release. “Disbarment is entirely appropriate in this case.”
‘Egregious acts of dishonesty’
Valdovinos Ramirez’s ethical violations stem from his interactions with five clients, officials said.
Per California State Bar rules, attorneys must retain clients’ funds in interest-bearing bank accounts, known as trust accounts.
However, “often, as soon as (Valdovinos Ramirez) received entrusted funds, he would deplete his bank accounts and use the entrusted funds for his own purposes, which included gambling,” officials said.
Upon receiving funds from clients, Valdovinos Ramirez often moved them into his bank account, according to court documents.
Valdovinos Ramirez spent the money on various personal matters, including Lyft rides, utility payments and trips to restaurants and gas stations, court documents show.
In two instances, Valdovinos Ramirez told clients he had reached a settlement in their case when he had never filed a lawsuit, court documents show.
He wrote the clients checks they believed to be their settlement payments; however, they bounced, according to court documents.
A client hired Valdovinos Ramirez to represent them in a conservatorship matter in June 2022 and, within weeks, they paid him $73,965 in advance fees, court documents show.
Valdovinos Ramirez directly withdrew money from the client’s trust account or transferred funds to his bank account, court documents show.
He went on to purchase tens of thousands of dollars worth of chips at casinos, court documents show.
When the client went to the courthouse to check on the case’s status, they learned Valdovinos Ramirez had taken no action in the case, court documents show.
When they requested their money back, Valdovinos Ramirez did not return it and told them he had cancer, court documents show.
“This case is about an attorney’s egregious acts of dishonesty that occurred in his practice and continued through his disciplinary trial,” the State Bar Court’s Review Department wrote in its opinion.
Fake cancer causes delay
The Office of Chief Trial Counsel filed a notice of disciplinary charges against Valdovinos Ramirez in November 2022, court documents show.
Among the disciplinary charges were “multiple counts of moral turpitude for misappropriation, misrepresentations, and checks drawn against insufficient funds,” officials said.
“Valdovinos was also charged with failure to deposit client funds into (a) trust account, failure to return unearned fees, and failure to keep one client apprised of significant case events,” according to officials.
Just before the notice was filed, however, Valdovinos Ramirez told the counsel he had cancer, according to court documents.
Valdovinos Ramirez sought multiple extensions, saying he was undergoing chemotherapy, court documents show.
A judge granted the extensions, under the pretense that he submit medical documentation, court documents show.
Valdovinos Ramirez never provided documentation, court documents show.
And when a counsel investigator spoke to the hospital where Valdovinos Ramirez said he was receiving treatment, there was no record of him or a physician by the name he provided, court documents show.
“Valdovinos Ramirez had made this claim (a cancer terminal diagnosis) in an attempt to justify various delays in his work for clients and in the disciplinary proceeding,” officials said.
‘Disbarment is necessary’
The State Bar Court’s Hearing Department ultimately recommended to the California Supreme Court that Valdovinos Ramirez be disbarred, a spokesperson with The State Bar of California told McClatchy News in an email.
Afterward, “Valdovinos Ramirez asked for a review from the State Bar Court Review Department (similar to an appeal),” the spokesperson said.
Valdovinos Ramirez said “the hearing judge was biased against him,” court documents show.
He also said the judge “embarrassed him when she asked him whether his gambling addiction would be raised in mitigation,” according to court documents.
After review, the State Bar Court’s Review Department found no basis for Valdovinos Ramirez’s claim of judicial bias, court documents show.
Additionally, the State Bar Court’s Review Department found the judge’s assumption that Valdovinos Ramirez had a gambling addiction was not unreasonable, “given that in a two-year period, from February 2021 through February 2023, he spent $886,535 in gambling chips” at casinos, court documents show.
In June, the department also recommended to the California Supreme Court that Valdovinos Ramirez be disbarred, the spokesperson said.
“We conclude his disbarment is necessary for the protection of the public, the courts, and the legal profession,” the State Bar Court’s Review Department said in its opinion.
The California Supreme Court, which has “final say on these matter(s),” issued his disbarment order effective Oct. 18, according to the spokesperson.
In addition to disbarment, the Supreme Court also ordered Valdovinos Ramirez to “make restitution to five former clients for nearly $117,000, plus 10 percent interest,” officials said.
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Attorney gambled clients’ money at casinos, then faked terminal cancer, CA officials say."
