Stuart Gilfenbain

December 21, 1996

STUART GILFENBAIN [#93824], 43, of Los Angeles was suspended for five years, stayed, placed on five years of probation with a three-year actual suspension and until he proves his rehabilitation. He also was ordered to take the MPRE. Credit for the actual suspension will be given for an interim suspension which began in June 1993. The order took effect Dec. 21, 1996. Gilfenbain was convicted of one count of mail fraud and five counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud in 1992 and spent six months in a community correction center near his residence. The case involved over-billing for fruit. Gilfenbain was sales director for a fruit distribution company which contracted with a packing company that packed, stored and sold grapes and tree fruit for growers in the San Joaquin Valley. In the late 1980s, employees of the packing company engaged in a scheme to defraud growers by underpaying them. Although he did not gain financially, Gilfenbain facilitated the fraudulent conduct. In mitigation, he had no record of discipline since his admission to the bar in 1980. In a lengthy declaration to the court, Gilfenbain described his prominent reputation in the agricultural community. When informed of the unethical billing system used by the packing company, Gilfenbain said he informed the authorities immediately. He was elected to the board of the community center where he performed community service while serving his sentence at a halfway house.