6 to get money from fund

Fifteen people still have monetary claims pending against Richard Goldberg.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Six former clients of suspended attorney Richard Goldberg will get back some of the money he should have paid them.
The Ohio Supreme Court's client security fund approved payment totaling $263,836.50 to Goldberg's victims, said fund administrator Janet Green Marbley.
Statewide, the fund approved payment of $373,723 to 27 victims, including Goldberg's.
"He's by far the worst offender in the system," Marbley said.
That brings to 16 the total number of people who've been reimbursed by the fund for money Goldberg owed them. Those people have been paid a total of $690,837, making Goldberg by far the most flagrant offender since the fund was started in 1985, Marbley said.
The client security fund, established by the Supreme Court, compensates victims of attorney theft. It is funded by a $250 registration fee lawyers pay every two years. The maximum claim is $50,000.
She said there are still 15 claims pending against Goldberg, though none has been filed in several weeks.
$4.4 million case: Goldberg is an attorney who specialized in medical malpractice cases. He is serving 57 months in federal prison for withholding at least $4.4 million from clients that was due them for lawsuit settlements.
His law license has been suspended pending final action by the Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel.
His original sentence was 41 months, but Judge Dan Aaron Polster of U.S. District Court, Cleveland, tacked on 16 months in April because Goldberg concealed assets that should have been used to repay his victims.