Lawyer Charged With Bilking Elderly Client In South Jersey
By David Madden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia lawyer has been returned to our region to face charges in South Jersey that he ripped off an elderly client to the tune of more than $1 million.
Michael Kwasnik, 42, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail, and prosecutors want to increase that to $5 million.
He was arrested last month in Alabama on charges that he made off with the funds of an elderly Cherry Hill, NJ woman.
He is also named in a civil suit, along with his father and others, in the alleged theft of more than $8½ million from some six dozen investment clients.
"He targeted elderly clients who, perhaps not savvy in the world of finance, could easily be misled by Kwasnik as to what he was doing with their money," says Stephen Taylor, director of New Jersey's Division of Criminal Justice.
It's possible that more criminal charges could stem from that civil action as well.
