by Markeshia Ricks | Mar 29, 2016 4:14 pm

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Posted to: Legal Writes

After hundreds of thousands of clients’ money went missing, a New Haven bankruptcy attorney has voluntarily resigned his license to practice law in the state and waived his right to reapply for readmission to the bar.

The attorney, Peter Ressler, a partner with Groob Ressler & Mulqueen, sent a letter to the Statewide Grievance Committee two weeks ago to state that he had violated two specific rules of professional conduct and resigned his law license.

“I am requesting an immediate investigation into my conduct,” Ressler wrote to the committee. In the letter, he also waived his right to a full evidentiary hearing and the ability to apply for readmission to the Connecticut State Bar. Ressler was admitted to the bar in April of 1973.

The grievance committee is made up of “21 individuals, 14 of whom are attorneys and 7 of whom are not attorneys, appointed by the Judges of the Superior Court to review, investigate and adjudicate attorney ethics complaints,” according to the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch website,.

Ressler’s resignation appears to stem from a failure to account for money that, according to court records, should be sitting in accounts connected to two clients he has represented.

On July 31, 2013, Ressler was the attorney for 329 Green Street LLC. He was ordered to “hold and retain in his firm’s trustee account” $450,000. The money was settlement funds obtained by 329 Green Street LLC from a legal malpractice settlement, according to court documents.

Only two disbursements had been authorized by the court. One was to the City of New Haven in the amount of $16,743.70 for real estate taxes; the other was $170,000 to pay the special attorney who prosecuted the malpractice claim that netted the settlement money. “As of March 22, 2016 the debtor’s attorney trustee account should have a balance of no less than $236,256.30,” according to court documents.

Redacted bank statements from Aug. 1, 2013, to Feb. 29, 2016, showed that the account had a balance of just $168,867.29. When the court was made aware of Ressler’s resignation, it also received documents that showed that not only was the balance less than what should be there, it was even less than what was there in February. The balance “was likely to be approximately $81,000.”

That wasn’t the only Ressler client with an account that was allegedly coming up short.

Ressler also was the acting attorney for Eternal Enterprise Inc. The Hartford-based entity had received approximately $321,409 in cash that was supposed to be deposited in a separate escrow account for real estate property taxes. Ressler received these funds, according to court documents, between May 1, 2015 and March 8, 2016.

“Despite being ordered to establish a separate real estate tax escrow account using the debtor’s taxpayer identification number, Peter L. Ressler, has failed to do so,” according to court documents. On March 10, Ressler told the courts that he had deposited the funds into his “attorney client trust account for firm Groob, Reslser & Mulqueen.” The court gave Ressler two chances — one on March 11, the other on March 15 — to set up a separate account for his client’s money. Twice he missed the deadline, and days later he tendered his resignation for misconduct and failing to keep his client’s money safe. He was found in civil contempt by the court, but it remains a mystery as to what actually happened to the money.

For both cases, the court ordered that Ressler be “prohibited from transferring, withdrawing, transmitting, using or otherwise disposing of or permitting withdrawal or use of funds contained in any account for which Peter L. Ressler (either singly or jointly) is a signatory, holder, owner, custodian, trustee or beneficiary, or for which Peter L. Ressler, otherwise possess the means to exert control or dominion over and account including without limitation any account held in trust.”

When contacted by the Independent, Ressler referred questions to his attorney, William Dow. Dow declined to say whether Ressler might be facing criminal charges of any kind.

“This is a complex situation,” he said. “We are doing our best to address it. We’ll address it in court, not in the media.”

Ressler also will have to address it with the Statewide Grievance Committee in a hearing.

Attorney Karyl Carrasquilla is serving as the committee’s chief disciplinary counsel. She said while Kessler has admitted to breaking two specific Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct — Rule 1.5 which governs safekeeping property, specifically client funds and Rule 8.4 (4), which involves general misconduct — the committee is conducting its own investigation to determine if he has broken any others.

She said that investigation remains ongoing, and that as soon as a date can be determined, a hearing will be held in New Haven. At that time, it is expected that Ressler will resign his license and waive his right to practice, or ever reapply to practice in the state.

Carrasquilla said that until this process happens, Ressler retains his licenses and is allowed to continue practicing law in the state. “The court is the only entity with the jurisdiction to suspend or disbar lawyers,” she said.