The State Bar announced Wednesday it has recommended disbarment of a Los Angeles attorney for failing to pay money meant for a client who once ran a high-end New York prostitution ring.
According to the Bar, the case stems from actions attorney Anthony Ngula Luti took in 2009 and 2010 after he was hired to manage an escrow account for Kristin Davis, formerly known as the Manhattan Madam, for unspecified services provided to Vivid Entertainment New York. Davis was linked to the scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Instead of paying Davis, Luti used most of the $15,000 account to pay for his daughter’s Montessori school fees, housekeeping costs, season tickets to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Rottweiler Club, according to the State Bar.
Luti, 44, who had a consumer alert attached to his State Bar profile and has been deemed ineligible to practice law, was charged with four counts of misconduct in 2016 and found culpable by the State Bar Court in September.
The State Bar’s decisions must be finalized by the state Supreme Court.
Spitzer, a former New York attorney general, stepped down as New York’s governor in 2008 after being exposed as a customer of high-end escorts. Davis was famous for running a high-end New York City prostitution ring, which claimed to have offered its services to Spitzer and other high-profile clients.
–City News Service