TWO DISBARRED QUEENS ATTORNEYS ARRESTED FOR PRACTICING LAW DESPITE DISBARMENT
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that two former Queens lawyers have been arrested for practicing law after being disbarred. One of the lawyers was also charged with grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing.
District Attorney Brown identified the two defendants, who were arrested and charged in separate cases, as Marion Marable, 67, of 130-12 144th Street, South Ozone Park and Carl N. Mione, 68, of 25-08 Murray Street, Flushing, New York. The defendant Marable is charged with practicing law while being disbarred, grand larceny and offering a false instrument for filing and faces up to seven years if convicted of grand larceny. The defendant Mione was charged with practicing law while being disbarred and faces up to a year in jail upon conviction.
According to the charges, the defendant Marable was disbarred from practice on April 7, 1997 for misappropriating and commingling clients escrow funds. It is alleged that despite the disbarment, on May 1, 2000 the defendant agreed to represent a Laurelton resident seeking to sell his 224th Street home and gave the homeowner a completed contract of sale. The homeowner paid the defendant $550 as a retainer and a fee for representing him. It is also alleged that the buyer of the house gave the defendant a check for $10,000 made payable to him as a down payment on the sale. It is charged that the defendant cashed the check and that despite the fact that the sale was never completed, he never returned the money to the buyer. On August 22, 2000 it is further alleged that the defendant met with the seller at a donut shop on Merrick Boulevard and gave him a completed contract with an entity named DGA Corp. to sign. The seller signed the contract and the sale was completed.
According to District Attorney Brown, the defendant Mione was disbarred by order of the Appellate Division on September 11, 1995 for mishandling of estate assets which resulted in losses of over $750,000 to his clients. Notwithstanding his disbarment, it is charged, he held himself out to two prospective buyers as an attorney in the sale of a real estate lot at 90-92 Avenue C in Manhattan.
The defendants were arrested in early February (Marable) and late January (Mione) respectively by Sgt. Richard Scantlebury of District Attorney Brown's Detective Bureau which is under the command of Chief Edward T. Brady and Deputy Chief Lawrence Festa.
Assistant District Attorneys Yvonne Creque and Marnie B. Lobel of the District Attorney's Integrity Bureau which is under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney James M. Liander and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Peter A. Crusco, are in charge of the cases.
It should be noted that an arrest is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.