Ohio Supreme Court permanently disbars Hubbard attorney

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court has permanently disbarred Hubbard attorney David K. Roland, who it says participated in a scheme to conceal more than $850,000 of a client’s marital assets from the client’s husband before and during divorce proceedings.

Roland was disciplined based on the scheme and other violations of the rules governing the behavior of attorneys, according to a unanimous supreme court opinion issued Wednesday.

The Trumbull County Bar Association brought complaints against Roland to the Board of Professional Conduct based on interactions with four clients, including his representation of a female client in her divorce from her husband, the Supreme Court said.

Roland failed to comply with bar association requests for discovery and with the orders of the chairperson of a three-member panel assigned to hear the complaints, the Supreme Court said.

The panel considered Roland’s failure to respond to the bar requests for admissions as an admission the allegations, the court said.

The bar association claimed the woman paid Roland about $854,000 from August 2006 to April 2009 by withdrawing cash from her business and personal accounts in amounts of less than $10,000. The court concluded that was evidence of purposely structuring the transactions to avoid detection under banking laws.

The funds were deposited into two of Roland’s client trust accounts, and $814,000 was wire-transferred to an account at Maerki Baumann & Co. in Zurich, in which the woman had a beneficial interest, the court said.