STATEMENT OF CHARGES

Jerome Larkin, Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, by his attorney, Gary S. Rapaport, states that on the date that Movant signed a motion to have his name stricken from the roll of attorneys admitted to practice law in Illinois, Movant was the subject of complaint pending before the Hearing Board, case no. 09 SH 35, and if the cause was the subject of a hearing, the evidence would be as stated below and would clearly and convincingly support the conclusions of misconduct indicated below.

Records of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois in United States v. Brian K. Wasson, Joseph R. Starns and John P. Wolgamot, No. 06-20055, and Movant’s admissions would establish the following.

1. In the 1990s, Movant began referring clients to, and receiving client referrals from, the Aegis Company, which was a business entity that promoted and sold purported trusts for the purpose of reducing individuals’ federal income tax liability. Taxpayers would reduce their reported taxable income by conveying their income and assets to the purported trusts. Movant assisted the clients and Aegis in establishing the purported trusts. However, the taxpayers retained complete control and use of their income and assets, and the purported trusts were shams.

PAGE 2:

2. On May 2, 2007, a federal grand jury returned a seven-count, third superseding indictment against Movant and two principals of the Aegis Company, Brian K. Wasson and Joseph R. Starns. The matter was docketed as United States v. Brian K. Wasson, Joseph R. Starnes and John P. Wolgamot, No. 06-20055, in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Count 1 charged all three defendants with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, namely, offenses of willfully aiding, counseling, and advising the preparation and filing of materially false and fraudulent federal income tax returns by taxpayers, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2). The six other counts of the indictment charged some or all of the defendants with specific incidents of aiding and counseling taxpayers in the filing of fraudulent tax returns.

3. In particular, Count 6 of the indictment charged all three defendants with violating Section 7206(2) on the basis that they willfully assisted and counseled a certain client, identified as Taxpayer B, in the filing of a federal income tax return for the 2000 tax year that was false and fraudulent in that it understated Taxpayer B’s income by $478,098.00 on the basis of the purported trust arrangements.

4. On August 21, 2008, Movant entered a plea of guilty to the offense set forth in Count 6 of the indictment and stipulated to the facts of the Aegis scheme, including the facts summarized in paragraph one, above.

5. On May 15, 2009, judgment was entered, and Movant was sentenced to a period of imprisonment of one year and one day. All other charges of the indictment against Movant were dismissed.

6. The evidence outlined above would establish that Movant has engaged in the following misconduct:

PAGE 3:

1. committing a criminal act, in that he willfully aided, counseled, and advised Taxpayer B in the preparation and filing of a materially false and fraudulent federal income tax return, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2), that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects, in violation of Rule 8.4(a)(3) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

2. counseling a client to engage, or assisting a client, in conduct the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent, in violation of Rule 1.2(d) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

3. conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in violation of Rule 8.4(a)(4) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct;

4. conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, in violation of Rule 8.4(a)(5) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct; and

5. conduct which tends to defeat the administration of justice or to bring the courts or the legal profession into disrepute, in violation of Supreme Court Rule 770.