Ohio’s highest court suspended an attorney who advised his client to transfer assets in order to qualify for Medicaid and then lied to the state Medicaid agency about whether the client transferred assets. Stark County Bar Association v. Buttacavoli (Ohio, No. 2017-Ohio-8857, Dec. 7, 2017).
Attorney Glen Buttacavoli’s law practice consisted of providing financial-planning advice to elderly clients for the purpose of ensuring their eligibility to receive long-term-care benefits under Medicaid.
In 2013 and 2014, Buttacavoli assisted a client in transferring assets to family members, including gifting the client’s life-estate interest in real property to her children, and gifting the ownership of life-insurance policies and stock to her daughter. In 2014, Buttacavoli applied for Medicaid benefits on the client’s behalf. Soon thereafter, the local Medicaid agency interviewed him as the client’s representative. During that interview, he falsely stated that the client had not transferred, sold, or given away any resources within the previous five years. He also signed a statement attesting that the representations he made during the interview were truthful. The local Medicaid agency later discovered the undisclosed transfers and penalized the clients.
Mr. Buttacavoli later admitted that his representations to the agency were false. As a result, the bar association charged Buttacavoli with violating the rules of professional conduct prohibiting false statements and engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
On appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended Mr. Buttacavoli for two years, with 18 months stayed. The Court also required Mr. Buttacavoli to refund to the client all the fees which were charged in the case.
The case is annexed here – Stark County Bar Association v. Buttacavoli (Ohio, No. 2017-Ohio-8857, Dec. 7, 2017)
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