Mitchell Howard Kreitenberg was admitted to the California Bar 3rd June 1983, but has since been disbarred. Mitchell graduated from Loyola Law School.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Mitchell Howard Kreitenberg |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 3 June 1983 (40 years, 11 months ago) |
| Status | Disbarred |
| Bar Number | 108440 |
Schools
| Law School | Loyola Law School (Los Angeles CA) |
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| Undergraduate School | University of California at Los Angeles (CA) |
Address
| Current Address | 4869 Topanga Cyn Blvd #7 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 |
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| Map |
History
| 13 June 2003 | Disbarred (20 years, 10 months ago) Disbarment 99-C-11604 |
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| 13 March 2003 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (21 years, 1 month ago) Vol.inactive(tender of resign.w/charges) 03-Q-01023 |
| 1 September 2001 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (22 years, 8 months ago) Admin Inactive/MCLE noncompliance |
| 27 October 1999 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (24 years, 6 months ago) Interim suspension after conviction 99-C-11604 |
| 16 September 1999 | Conviction record transmitted to State Bar Court 99-C-11604 (24 years, 7 months ago) |
| 3 June 1983 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (40 years, 11 months ago) |
Discipline Summaries
June 13, 2003 A Woodland Hills attorney who was convicted in 1999 of defrauding the IRS in a check-writing scheme was disbarred last summer, a month after the Supreme Court declined to accept his voluntary resignation. In what State Bar prosecutor Don Steedman believes was an unprecedented action, the bar petitioned the court to reject what it thought was a last-minute effort by MITCHELL H. KREITENBERG [#108440] to avoid disbarment. "We thought the disbarment recommendation should go forward," Steedman said. "It had been litigated all the way through and we thought the last-minute resignation wasn't appropriate." The State Bar Court's review department had overturned a hearing judge's recommendation that Kreitenberg, 45, be suspended for four years after his criminal conviction, and instead recommended that he be disbarred. The Supreme Court has the final say in such decisions.The disbarment took effect June 13, 2003.After working in-house for an insurance company in the early 1980s, Kreitenberg was recruited by his cousin to join in his personal injury business. Shortly after doing so, he became aware that some, if not all, of his cases were referred by cappers, who were paid for the referrals. According to court papers, he also knew that legal fees from those cases were split among the cappers, his cousin, the non-attorney office manager and himself. Kreitenberg also knew these activities were illegal, and on several occasions expressed his concerns to his cousin, who challenged him to leave the practice. There is no evidence the cases themselves were fraudulent.Eventually, Krietenberg became part of a scheme to use his client trust account to pay for the illegal referrals and to shield his income from the IRS. He deposited settlement awards into the account and made the appropriate disbursements, but instead of collecting the legitimate fees to which he was entitled, he wrote phony checks against the trust account, using his clients' names as fictitious payees and authorizing the checks to be forged. To further disguise the withdrawal of his fees, Kreitenberg and his cousin agreed the checks should be in a non-sequential order from the initial checks written o the clients. Kreitenberg wrote more than 680 phony checks over three years, withdrawing about $1.64 million in legal fees. None of the money was reported to the IRS. Instead, the fees, split equally among Kreitenberg, his cousin and the office manager, were used "specifically to fund a massive capping and fee-splitting scheme," according to the charges. As a result of the conspiracy, Kreitenberg earned between $250,000 and $300,000 a year for 1990, 1991 and 1992. The practice ended when the IRS audited his tax returns.By 1996, the U.S. Attorney was conducting a criminal investigation; Kreitenberg fully confessed to his criminal activities and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS.As part of the plea agreement, he was ordered to pay all back taxes, but according to court papers, there was no evidence in the record that he had fully repaid what he owed.Kreitenberg also cooperated with authorities, who successfully prosecuted his cousin. Manny Kreitenberg [#90215] resigned from the bar with charges pending in 1994. As a result of providing information about other targets of the investigation, Kreitenberg was sentenced to five years of probation, with three months in a correctional center and three months of home detention.Placed on interim suspension by the bar in 1999, Kreitenberg's case was referred to the State Bar Court for hearing. He stipulated to the facts underlying the conspiracy but not to a finding of moral turpitude. Judge Robert Talcott found that Kreitenberg had committed moral turpitude, but finding evidence of "extraordinary" good character, he recommended an actual suspension of four years with credit for the interim suspension.The State Bar appealed, seeking Kreitenberg's disbarment.The review department upheld the finding of moral turpitude, committed over six years, and also found that Kreitenberg's clients were harmed because he breached their trust and exposed them to possible tax audits."Given the magnitude, scope and duration of [Kreitenberg's] crime, we conclude that he should be disbarred," wrote Judge Judith Epstein. "We cannot agree with the hearing judge that the mitigation evidence is so compelling as to warrant a discipline less than disbarment."Judges Ron Stovitz and Madge Watai concurred. Kreitenberg may seek reinstatement five years from the initial date of his suspension, Oct. 27, 1999.November 22, 2002 MITCHELL KREITENBERG [#108440], 44, of Woodland Hills allowed his cousin to set up a law office using Kreitenberg's name and participated in a scheme where his client trust account was used to pay cappers. Kreitenberg deposited the settlement checks into his client trust account and made the appropriate disbursements to the clients and the medical providers, but the check that should have been for legal fees was also made out to the client. Kreitenberg's office manager would cash this second check written to the client at a check cashing facility and use the funds to pay the cappers to bring in more cases to Kreitenberg's office. The scheme also hid income from the taxing authorities. The review department of the State Bar Court has recently recommended to the Supreme Court that Mitchell Kreitenberg be disbarred. (In the Matter of Mitchell H. Kreitenberg, 99-C-11604, filed Nov. 22, 2002.) October 27, 1999 MITCHELL H. KREITENBERG [#108440], 41, of Los Angeles was placed on interim suspension Oct. 27, 1999, following a federal conviction for conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. He was ordered to comply with rule 955. |