Severo, In re

• Decision Date: 27 March 1986
• Citation: 41 Cal.3d 493,714 P.2d 1244,224 Cal.Rptr. 106
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 714 P.2d 1244 In re Raoul Jorge SEVERO, on Disbarment. L.A. 32061.

Page 106

224 Cal.Rptr. 106

41 Cal.3d 493, 714 P.2d 1244

In re Raoul Jorge SEVERO, on Disbarment.

L.A. 32061.

Supreme Court of California.

March 27, 1986.

Michael V. Severo & Associates, Glendale, for petitioner/appellant.

Herbert M. Rosenthal, Truitt A. Richey, Jr., and Hope Snyder, San Francisco, for respondent.

BY THE COURT: ^*

We consider a recommendation of the State Bar Review Department that petitioner Raoul Jorge Severo, a member of the bar since December 1977, be disbarred, following his conviction on November 3, 1980, in United States District Court of various crimes arising from transactions involving a federally funded poverty program. After reviewing the record and petitioner's objections, we will adopt the bar's conclusion.

On May 1, 1981, we placed petitioner on interim suspension pending finality of his conviction. After the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed his conviction, we referred the matter to the bar for a determination as to whether violation of 18 United States Code section 371 (conspiracy) involved moral turpitude or other conduct warranting discipline, and for an overall recommendation as to appropriate discipline. After finding that petitioner's conduct involved moral turpitude and that petitioner had engaged in misconduct both before and after his admission to the bar, the hearing panel concluded unanimously that disbarment was appropriate under the circumstances. The review department Petitioner then filed before us a petition for review. He concedes that the underlying misconduct involved moral turpitude, but argues that the bar failed to give proper consideration to evidence of mitigating circumstances and that its recommendation is too severe.

adopted the hearing[41 Cal.3d 497] panel's findings of fact and voted ten to one, with one member not participating, to recommend that petitioner be disbarred.

FACTS

The Greater Los Angeles Community Action Agency (GLACAA), founded in 1973, was a "joint powers agency" established by the City and County of Los Angeles to obtain federal funding for various local poverty programs. Frank Mena acted as GLACAA's director of administrative services. Technical Services Institute (TSI) was a private consulting firm owned and operated by Frank Aguilera and Fred Chapa. Petitioner had previously worked with Aguilera, Chapa and Mena.

In June 1977, Mena offered to assist TSI in obtaining a $50,000 audit contract from GLACAA in return for a $10,000 cash kickback. Aguilera and Chapa agreed and, pursuant to their discussions, Aguilera drafted GLACAA's proposal for the contract, an action which normally would have been performed by GLACAA's staff. GLACAA then forwarded the proposal to a number of firms including TSI which might be interested. TSI responded with a proposal drafted by Aguilera and petitioner. Petitioner then joined with Aguilera to evaluate the bids which were submitted. They awarded the highest score to the TSI proposal which was then transmitted to GLACAA's board of directors which awarded the contract to TSI.

After the contract had been awarded, petitioner agreed to help in transferring the $10,000 to Mena. In order to effect payment, two checks were issued by TSI payable to The Minotaur Group, a fictitious business name used by petitioner. The first check was for $6,000 and the second for $9,800. Of the total, $10,000 was given to Mena, $5,000 divided between Aguilera and Chapa, and $800 kept by petitioner as his fee for cashing the checks. The source of the funds was the money received by TSI from the GLACAA contract and intended for use in executing that contract.

Chapa and Mena began discussing GLACAA's legal business around August 1977. Mena asked if Chapa knew an attorney who would give a kickback in exchange for being awarded the legal services contract with the project. Chapa approached petitioner who had taken the July bar examination but had not yet received his results. In September, a two-month legal services contract was awarded to petitioner's brother, Michael Severo, by GLACAA. Upon expiration of that contract, GLACAA awarded the firm of Severo and Severo, consisting of petitioner and his brother, a 19-month contract. Petitioner passed the bar in December. ¹

Severo and Severo received payments in excess of $145,000 under the contract between December 1977 and September 1978. During the same period, petitioner made monthly payments of $1,000 to Mena in the belief that if he failed to do so, the legal services contract would be terminated. ²

In July 1979, a Los Angeles Federal Grand Jury began an investigation of GLACAA and subpoenaed TSI's books and records. Those records showed the two checks issued to The Minotaur Group as consulting fees. Neither check had been included as income in petitioner's federal tax returns. In order to correct this discrepancy, the records were altered to show the $9,800 as a loan to petitioner. In August 1979, petitioner provided a backdated and signed promissory note representing that TSI had loaned him $9,000 in 1977. At his hearing, petitioner disputed testimony at the criminal trial that he had suggested As a result of the investigation, petitioner and others were charged in United States District Court with various criminal violations. Chapa testified on behalf of the government pursuant to an agreement. Petitioner, who did not take the stand, was convicted after jury trial of nine counts including conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371); bribery (id. § 201); concealment of material facts from and fraudulent statements to a federal agency (id., § 1001); aiding and abetting bribery (id., § 2); theft of federal funds (ibid.); and obstruction of justice (id., § 1503). On appeal, the Ninth Circuit reversed the convictions for conspiracy and obstruction of justice, and affirmed the remaining convictions. Petitioner, sentenced to five years in federal prison, was released on parole on January 16, 1984.

the alterations to the books in order to mislead the grand jury, but he admitted that he knowingly provided the false promissory note and that he had done so in order to avoid tax liability.

At the proceeding before the bar hearing panel, petitioner testified that his conduct was due to substantial financial and personal pressures. He stated that he had not earned money for several months while studying for the bar, and had been unable to find work because he had not yet obtained his bar results. The only work he could find was for TSI on an hourly basis, and he was required to give back $5 of each $10 he made. He explained he participated in the kickback schemes because he felt he had no other options and that cooperation with the others involved was the only way for him to continue working. Although he testified that at the time he cashed the checks issued to The Minotaur Group, he did not realize their true purpose, he admitted that he acted in the belief that it would assist Chapa and Aguilera in avoiding payments to legitimate creditors of TSI. He also claimed that the $800 he kept was for back wages rather than a fee. Petitioner further admitted that he made the $1,000 payments to Mena in 1977 and 1978, and that he participated in covering up the transaction involving the TSI kickback checks. He characterizes the latter action as a "misjudgment" which was "an ill-conceived and vain attempt to keep himself from being prosecuted for income tax evasion based upon income that he did not receive to begin with." He also submitted copies of documents provided to the judge at his trial before sentencing, including a letter from a psychiatrist showing he was undergoing therapy.

The hearing panel concluded that petitioner committed acts involving moral turpitude both before and after his admission to the bar and violated his oath and duties as an attorney. (See Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 6103, 6067, 6068, 6106.) As to findings in aggravation, the panel found petitioner had failed to fully acknowledge his responsibility and that his "limited perspective of the options which were available to him only reveals serious imperfections in his moral character." While petitioner had presented evidence showing his voluntary submission to psychiatric care, the panel found cause for concern in petitioner's lack of self-understanding "together with his own psychiatrist's assessment that he is suffering from deeply-rooted, long-standing psychological and emotional problems, with a fragile personality structure." As noted, it recommended disbarment, and its findings and conclusions were followed by the review department without alteration.

DISCUSSION

Once a conviction is final, "The facts and circumstances surrounding [the] petitioner's crime are relevant only to determine appropriate discipline." (In re Kirschke (1976) 16 Cal.3d 902, 904, 129 Cal.Rptr. 780, 549 P.2d 548.) Standing alone, petitioner's crimes warrant disbarment. For example, in In re Bloom (1977) 19 Cal.3d 175, 137 Cal.Rptr. 168, 561 P.2d 258, we disbarred an attorney who had been convicted of soliciting a bribe, observing that such punishment was common in cases involving similar misconduct. Theft and embezzlement similarly have provided a basis for disbarment. (See, e.g., In re Lyons (1975) 15 Cal.3d 322, 124 Cal.Rptr 171, 540 P.2d 11 [embezzlement]; In re Bogart (1973) 9 Cal.3d 743, 108 Cal.Rptr. 815, 511 P.2d 1167 [theft].) Moreover, misconduct prior to admission to the bar may provide a basis for discipline. (In re Bogart, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 749, 108 Cal.Rptr. 815, 511 P.2d 1167.) Petitioner here argues that the bar failed to take into account a number of asserted mitigating factors in reaching its disciplinary recommendation.

Among the factors which petitioner urges deserve greater weight are the claims: (1) he was a "passive participant" in the kickback schemes; (2) he was "only 27 years old" when the misconduct occurred; (3) his misconduct occurred while he was under pressure from emotional,...