A New Jersey lawyer charged with stealing $1 million from a client has been apprehended in Alabama after an apparent attempt to avoid prosecution.
Michael Kwasnik, 42, was charged Monday in a four-count indictment for allegedly stealing from an elderly Cherry Hill, N.J. woman he represented in an estate matter.
He was found traveling by taxi to a bus station when the driver, suspicious of Kwasnik for a reason not specified by authorities, alerted local police, according to Peter Aseltine, spokesperson to state Attorney General Paula Dow.
Police stopped Kwasnik at the bus station and arrested him upon discovering the outstanding warrant. Kwasnik was carrying several thousand dollars in cash, prepaid cell phones and his passport.
In Monday's indictment, the woman, referred to as K.L., hired Kwasnik to set up a family trust and help administer a deceased sister's estate.
Kwasnik was designated as sole trustee, receiving $1.1 million in checks from the estate, which K.L. expected him to deposit in the trust, authorities said. Instead, he allegedly deposited those checks in his firm's trust account and later withdrew the funds and misappropriated them, largely for distribution to other clients and for firm expenses.
Kwasnik was managing partner of Kwasnik, Rodio, Kanowitz and Buckley in Philadelphia and Cherry Hill, N.J. at the time of the alleged theft. He is now with Kwasnik Kanowitz and Associates.
The indictment came six days after Kwasnik settled a 2009 civil suit against him by the Federal Trade Commission.
In FTC v. Hope Now Modifications, the agency alleged Kwasnik Rodio had an arrangement with Hope Now of Cherry Hill to collect mortgage-relief clients' fees and split them with the company.
The two allegedly made the arrangement to sidestep a state regulation requiring Hope Now to hold a debt adjuster's license to perform mortgage rescues, as the firm was not subject to the same requirement.
