James F. McAleer, who was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1968, was arrested by the state police financial crimes unit and charged with unlawful appropriation over $1,000.
A disbarred Rhode Island attorney has been arrested by the state police, charged with unlawfully appropriating more than $400,000 in clients’ funds.
James F. McAleer, who was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1968, was arrested by the state police financial crimes unit and charged with unlawful appropriation over $1,000, the state police said in a press release Tuesday.
The state police began investigating McAleer after receiving a complaint in January from the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s office of disciplinary counsel about the alleged misappropriation of funds by McAleer from the estates of three victims, the state police said.
According to the state police, McAleer became the executor for the estates between 1996 and 2014. State police investigators found that from July 30, 2014, through Aug. 16, 2019, $839,810 was paid out to a McAleer & McAleer trust account intended to hold client funds.
The state police review of McAleer & McAleer’s accounts and records showed that $344,220.00 was distributed to the sole beneficiary of the estates and $89,093.19 was paid out for the estates’ expenses, the state police said. The remaining $406,497.00 of the estates’ funds were transferred or withdrawn and were used to pay McAleer’s business and personal expenses not for the purposes of the estates, the state police said.
McAleer was arraigned by a justice of the peace and released on $5,000 personal recognizance with a pre-arraignment conference date of November 13, 2024, according to the state police.
In December, the state Supreme Court announced the disbarment of McAleer after accepting the recommendation of its disciplinary board that McAleer be disbarred for allegedly mishandling three estates on behalf of Clifford K. Webb.
The court cited McAleer for unprofessional conduct, incompetently representing Webb, mismanaging his fees, failing to exercise diligence on behalf of his client, and lacking candor with the court for allegedly stymying the chief disciplinary counsel’s efforts to retrieve his files for the investigation.
The court accused McAleer of neglecting his responsibilities over non-lawyer staff, his now-deceased secretary whom he testified wrote the checks at issue from an account in which client money was held.
—Previous reporting from Journal Staff Writer Katie Mulvaney was included in this story.