New Jersey Attorney Steals Clients’ Money to Fund Gambling Addiction

A Voorhees, New Jersey personal injury lawyer accused of having used her clients’ money to fuel a gambling addiction has been suspended from practice.

Jaffa Stein, Esq., who is a solo practitioner, was ordered to stop practicing on January 4th by the New Jersey state Supreme Court, pending the completion of her trial. Nearly a month earlier, a judge had ordered Ms. Stein to stop taking on new clients and to appoint a supervisor to oversee her financial matters, but had reserved judgment on her continuing to represent current clients. However, the court has since decided that the former measures were "not sufficient to protect the public and the respondent's clients."

Ms. Stein has been using money from clients’ trust funds for casino gambling, mainly at gambling establishments in the Atlantic City area. Her scheme was uncovered by the Wachovia Corp. Bank, which called the Office of Attorney Ethics to report suspicious transfers between Ms. Stein’s trust and business accounts. Ms. Stein would transfer the money and then cash the business account checks in Atlantic City banks and gambling establishments.

Ms. Stein immediately admitted to the OAE that she had been stealing funds from her clients’ accounts. She told the ethics association that she was addicted to gambling. Ms. Stein said that she had hired a gambling addiction counselor at one point but that she had since discontinued the sessions, and reverted to problem gambling. Ms. Stein placed her name on a list of people banned from casinos but continued to frequent the gambling establishments nonetheless. When the casinos become aware of her presence, she told managers that she was there only to cash in “comps”- free meal and hotel stays given to gambling patrons.

OAE Prosecutor Michael Sweeney said that he planned to recommend that Ms. Stein’s bar membership be revoked completely, which would mean that she could never practice law again. Mr. Sweeney said that Ms. Stein is “beyond the pale at this point.”

Ms. Stein is represented by Cherry Hill solo practitioner Mark Kancher. Mr. Kancher asked the court to forgo issuing a suspension because, he said, his client has several important cases that will go to trial before another lawyer could be trained.

Mr. Kancher asked for the court to recognize that his client is in the throes of a gambling addiction. "She recognizes she is in need of help," Kancher said. "She is in need of strong supervision of the financial aspect of her law practice."

Ms. Stein, before becoming a solo practitioner, was a partner at the Cherry Hill, N.J. firm Tomar, O'Brien, Kaplan, Jacoby & Graziano. She also had a run- in with ethics breach accusations there. Ms. Stein and four other attorneys at that firm are currently being investigated for allegedly inappropriately using employees to bring in personal injury clients.

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