Tag: lawyers

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News News Blog News Feature

Lawyer Gets Prison Time After Fraud Scheme

A former Memphis attorney will serve prison time for defrauding his clients. 

George E. Skouteris Jr., 59, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment, according to acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr. The sentence comes after a jury found Skouteris guilty of seven counts of bank fraud after a four-day trial in April. 

The court found that between 2007 and March 2013, Skouteris engaged in a scheme to defraud his clients by settling cases without notifying them and forging their endorsements on settlement checks made jointly payable to him and the client. Skouteris then deposited the checks to bank accounts he maintained at TrustOne Bank.

Last week, United States District Judge John Fowlkes Jr. sentenced Skouteris to 30 months imprisonment, followed by three years supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. The judge also ordered a future court date to determine the amount of restitution Skouteris is to pay. 

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Art Exhibit M

Your Dreams Interpreted: Gene Hackman, Turtles, A Little Old Lady

CREDIT: Grandma Moses, "Winter"

Gene Hackman in ‘The French Connection’


Welcome to the first installment of our ongoing attempts at dream interpretation. Today we take on infinite regress, gritty lawyers and road rage: 

Gene Hackman was in a movie in the ’70s, and then decades later he was in the same exact movie remade with the same title, almost shot for shot. The opening scene was a bit different. Instead of getting out of his car in an irritated fashion, he parked at the end of a long line of cars. His irritation was more about where he had to park. I remember a long wall, and someone walking away down the top of it, arguing to someone below. The movie had lawyers, and gritty conversations about the law.

Dear Mundane Dreamer,

Sometimes, in moments of existential frustration, I will reference the opening lines of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Hawking opens his book with an anecdote about an eminent scientist who, while giving a lecture about the nature of the universe, is interrupted by a little old lady who maintains that the world is merely a flat plate resting on the back of a giant turtle. “But,” retorts the scientist, “What is the turtle standing on?” and the lady says something to the effect of “You stupid asshole. It is turtles all the way down!”

Dr. Seuss, from ‘Yertle the Turtle’

It is turtles all the way down! I think this is what your dream is about: Hawking’s stacked tortoises might as well be your long line of cars, or a movie that is the same shot for shot, or the bottomless gauntlet of boring B flicks from the seventies. You look for something deeper in your subconscious offerings and find only minor permutations of what you have seen before.

But you need not despair, MD, because if the Cosmic Turtles of Infinite Regress have anything to teach us, it is that we contain unseen multitudes. Same-ness doesn’t preclude depth. Maybe your dream is trying to tell you that something you previously saw as unremarkable was actually the point. You simply need to re-envision it, probably with the help of Gene Hackman. (What was this movie called, by the way? Was it Rest Easy, or You Can Sleep When You Are Dead? Jokes, jokes.)

In honor of Hawking’s little old lady, I will also advise you to check out the paintings of American folk artist Grandma Moses. I once heard an interview with Grandma Moses, who started painting at the age of 78, during which she said, “People keep telling me that the snow is blue. But I look and look at it and I can’t see any blue. So I just paint it white.” Was the snow blue? Was it white? Who knows. The point is that she kept looking.

Grandma Moses, ‘Winter’

Yours truly, 

Eileen 

We here at Exhibit M are taking a stab at dream interpretation, with the help of art and anecdote. Do you wonder what your dreams are about? Send them to: eileen@contemporary-media.com.

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant

I suppose the one saving grace of the human race is that virtually all of our problems are self-inflicted. Theoretically at least, if we are the cause of the problems, we should be able to provide the cure or correction.

Hopefully, the Democratic Party will learn from this experience that it is not a good idea to award delegates on a proportional basis. If the primaries had been winner-take-all, the party would have had its nominee long ago and could be chopping on the Republican tree.

Instead, it is stuck with an exceedingly close race that apparently can only be settled by the so-called super delegates, who are appointed and not elected (another bad idea). This means that inevitably they will be seen as stealing the nomination from one of the two candidates. This will undoubtedly cause a rift in the party.

I used to make money betting that no matter how unlikely the Republican candidate was, the Democrats would scour the country to find somebody who could lose the race. It worked with Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and Al Gore. In the interim, of course, the Republicans picked up the Democrat habit and nominated Bush the First for a second term and then dragged out the old relic, Bob Dole, so both could be mowed down by Bill Clinton.

Now the Republicans have found another old relic, John McCain, to go up against Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. What a great choice in the minds of many: an African American, a woman, or a geezer. Though they won’t tell it to the pollsters or say it on television, there are still blocs of Americans who will not vote for an African American or a woman. Racist and sexist? Of course. Who told you the American people had become civilized, urbane, and educated?

This was supposed to be a shoo-in year for the Democrats. The Republican president has disapproval ratings of historic proportions, has screwed up the economy, and has gotten us stuck in two wars. It should have been no contest, but the Democratic Party has managed, with its nutty rules, to make it a level playing field.

This means the geezer has a chance, provided he doesn’t topple over during the campaign. He doesn’t seem to be very much in touch with reality, but that will merely carry on the tradition of George W. Bush, who, as the Buddhists say, seems destined to have been born drunk and to die dreaming. They will just have to hire somebody to stay close and whisper in McCain’s ear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. He seems confused.

Well, the world can’t blame us. We are only 300 million souls, which is a small field to choose from. Nor can we help it that reasonably honest people with reasonably good skills can make more money in the private sector than in public service, so that we are stuck largely with crooks, lazy people, and incompetents.

Another self-inflicted problem is that our whole society, like some wooden house in a swamp, is riddled with lawyers who most resemble termites. There is a truthful old saying that if a town has one lawyer, he will be poor, but if there are two, they will both prosper. That’s because lawyers are hired arguers, and it takes two to have a dispute. Lawyers have almost replaced car salesmen in local television advertising.

There is a lot of talk about the rising costs of health care, but I think that lags far behind the rising cost of legal services. Legal fees seem to run into the millions of dollars in the blink of an eye these days and not because there has been a burst of legal talent. They have their own monopoly and usually charge what the traffic will bear and then some.

But, as I said, most of our problems are self-inflicted. Let’s just hope we can avoid self-destruction.

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 50 years.

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant

CREDIT: Chan Vargas | dreamstime.com

A Florida man says that his son was taken advantage of by a Florida Panhandle strip joint. Seems the father gave his son his credit card to celebrate his graduation from Georgia Tech, and the boy ran up a $53,000 tab. This appears to be a case where the strippers were the ones who got a “happy ending.”

I guess the young man, catapulted to an undergrad degree at the tender of age 24, did not learn the economics of real life in school — chief among them is to never give strippers a free shot at your credit card, no matter how drunk you are.

Much like their brethren the lawyers, strippers quickly size up a potential client for how much they can fleece from them, based on how much money they have and how stupid they appear to be.  

I have always supported honest entrepreneurs, especially when pitted against the stupid. It is good for society when money is not left too long in the hands of idiots. It is God’s way of getting money into smarter folks’ pockets. For the less religious among us, I call it economic Darwinism, and it often happens one crumpled $5 bill at a time. As the old saying goes, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” In this case, a fool and his dad’s money were soon partying.  

I do understand these men who spend silly amounts of money in strip clubs. I have had friends whose longest female relationships have lasted two table dances. Men go to these clubs to make themselves feel important because they are lacking in self-esteem or personal affirmation. They are paying for the illusion of being a big shot, and they convince themselves that these women actually think they are attractive. They usually get buyer’s remorse when the stripper’s cooing and ego-stroking ends, which invariably happens when the guy’s money runs out. Who knew?

Surprisingly, the government, which likes to wet its beak in all vices, has yet to devise a way to muscle in on the strip-joint business. They’ve done better with our other bad habits. The feds pay farmers to grow tobacco, then tax cigarettes, and then push lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers. Governments are also into gambling big-time now, sponsoring their own state lotteries (akin to running numbers) and licensing casinos. And of course, there is booze, where government takes an inordinate cut via taxes on alcohol sales. It is best to view the government as a mob boss without the protection racket — or moral consistency. 

I don’t go to strip clubs, but it’s not because I have any ethical opposition to them. The average stripper is doing the best she can with the assets she has to make money and provide for her famiy. And I respect that — especially her assets. Basically, I don’t go simply because I am too cheap.

As for the Georgia Tech grad, it sounds like he got a master’s in finance that night — for $53,000! Welcome to the real world, son! Pain is an excellent teacher, and often, in a society that makes excuses for bad behavior, it can be the only teacher. Of course, ridicule helps, which is what I do. It is my way of giving back.

Experience is how we learn life’s lessons. Experience delivers certain harsh truths to us Homo sapiens (and straight sapiens, too). This incident taught a young man the most valuable lesson in life: Don’t be an idiot.

See, everyone has a role in our society, even strippers.

Ron Hart is a columnist and former resident of Memphis.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

GADFLY: Let’s Hear It for Barristers on the Barricades!

I sat, dumbfounded, as I watched a demonstration, en masse,
in Pakistan against the oppressive rule by that country’s strongman (and our
“ally”), Pervez Musharraf, by a group of outraged citizens. Who were they? Not
members of the typically rebellious masses (i.e., college students, factory
workers, union members, political dissidents, etc.), but a group of LAWYERS!

How could this be, I wondered. Lawyers (a status I proudly
claim) are usually part of the cosseted elite, beneficiaries of the status quo,
recipients of the government’s favors, and cogs in the wheels of justice,
government and societal processes in general. More often than not they go along
to get along as part of the power structure. They are usually well-paid,
respected (stereotype-driven prejudice to the contrary notwithstanding) and
comfortable members of the elite. Yet here they were, raucously demonstrating,
throwing rocks at (and

being beaten by) the police, and vociferously protesting the policies of
their government. Right on, brothers! Lawyers just don’t do this, I thought.
It’s contrary to their delicate constitutions, and their self-interest.

As it turns out, the Pakistani lawyers were righteously
indignant about Musharraf’s “emergency” measures, dictatorially imposed on the
country, including the suspension of the country’s constitution, cancellation of
elections, the arrest and detention of the country’s chief justice, the closure
of privately-owned broadcast media and the replacement of many of the country’s
high court’s judges with ones more to the dictator’s liking. Wow, I thought;
this sounds vaguely reminiscent of what’s happening right here, in the good ole
US of A. Bush has all but suspended the constitution (i.e., eliminating habeas
corpus, warrantlessly eavesdropping on American citizens, engaging in torture
and stacking the Supreme Court, and the inferior courts, with his ideological
kinsmen). But he doesn’t see the parallels. Indeed, in

a moment of supreme irony, Bush’s press secretary said (in reference to
Musharraf’s actions) that it was not reasonable to restrict constitutional
freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.

Bush has relied on compliant (if not complicit) lawyers in
the justice department (headed, until recently, by the ultimate kiss ass,
Alberto Gonzales), to tell him what he wants to hear when it comes to bending or
breaking various laws and the constitution. And now it appears we will be
treated to another Bush lawyer/sycophant at the helm of that department, Michael
Mukasey, who

refused to say that a favored torture tactic, water boarding, is
unconstitutional. Nonetheless, can you imagine lawyers in this country
taking to the streets to protest our strongman’s infringements of
constitutional and human rights? I know I can’t. And yet, no one is in a better
position to protest our dictator’s policies, or has more at stake, than this
country’s legal establishment.

Musharaf has obviously taken a page from Shakespeare in
dealing with Pakistan’s lawyers. It is a favorite Shakespearean verse, often
quoted by people who hold lawyers in less than high regard, that, paraphrasing,
“the first thing we should do is kill all the lawyers.” I’ve heard this line
many times, once even from a now-deceased federal judge who uttered it,
astonishingly enough, in the courthouse elevator as several lawyers got on to
ride to the courtroom floor. I reminded him, as politely as I could, that in
addition to being a judge, he was also a lawyer and would probably go with the
rest of us (indeed, probably before us) if his prescription were to be followed.
But, the quote from Shakespeare is never cited in the context the Bard wrote it.
In fact, Dick the Butcher, a character in Henry VI, utters the remark as
part of a plot by another character in the play, Jack Cade, a rabble-rouser and
pretender to the throne of England, to take down the government. Eliminating
lawyers, according to Dick, was a necessary part of a successful revolt. Dick
and Perez obviously share the same philosophy.

In this country, far from protesting the abuses of law and
the constitution practiced by the current administration, lawyers have
shamelessly capitulated to, if not facilitated, the excesses of the Bush
administration. Whether it was John Yoo, the Justice Department lawyer (who
John Ashcroft referred to as “Dr. Yes” for his willingness to tell the White
House what it wanted to hear), who opined that whatever the president wanted to
do in a time of war (including torture) was permissible, whether or not it was
prohibited by statute or the constitution, or Scooter Libby (remember him?) who
outed a covert CIA agent in the service of his own “Dick the Butcher,” or now
Mr. Mukasey, who appears ready to immunize from prosecution for war crimes the
agents of our government who may have engaged in torture, and their superiors
(up to and including Bush) who authorized it, American lawyers (with some

notable exceptions) have been stunningly, deafeningly silent in the face of
the Bush administration’s abuses . And lawyers like Arlen Specter, Chuck Schumer
and Lindsay Graham (who also happen to be U.S. senators), have, by approving
Mukasey’s nomination, even as they professed outrage at his unwillingness to
declare water boarding torture, have ignominiously shamed their profession by
carrying the administration’s water on that nomination.

American lawyers have stood by and watched Bush nominate
candidates for the Supreme Court who swore, under oath, that they would honor
the principle of “stare decisis” (precedent), and then proceeded, in several
cases,

to violate that oath and decimate long-standing precedents. They stood by in
2000 when the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Bush vs. Gore,

one of the most political decisions in its 200 plus year existence (with the
possible exception of its DredScott pro-slavery opinion), which

robbed the winner of that election of his rightful victory. Sadly, American
lawyers have frequently been more a part of the problem in the decimation of the
rule of law in this country than part of the solution.

So I stand with my Pakistani brothers in law, in spirit if
not in body, and say, “I support your cause, because it is just.” But call me a
hypocrite, because I just don’t think I’ll be throwing any rocks (at least not
literally), manning any barricades, or suffering any police beatings over here
protesting Pervez Bush’s violations of the constitution or the rule of law over
here, anytime soon. When all is said and done, I’m afraid I’m just another
proud, and chicken, member of the establishment.