The California Supreme Court has disbarred a Manhattan Beach attorney who misappropriated about $117,000 client funds and allegedly used some of the money to support his gambling activities.
Sergio Valdovinos Ramirez was disbarred effective Oct. 18 after the state high court issued an order requiring Valdovinos Ramirez to reimburse five clients for funds he misappropriated. The former attorney was found to have lied to clients about settlements, mishandled conservatorship money and failed to perform the work clients hired him for, according to the State Bar.
The State Bar Court had recommended that Valdovinos Ramirez be stricken from the roll of attorneys after finding him guilty of 19 ethics violations in charges brought by the State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC).
“Mr. Valdovinos Ramirez cheated his clients out of their funds, in part, to feed his gambling habit,” George Cardona, the State Bar’s chief trial counsel, said in a prepared statement. “He then showed no remorse and lied about a life-threatening illness to avoid taking responsibility for his misconduct.”
The former attorney had claimed during disciplinary hearings that he was under the care of Dr. Stephen Chang at the City of Hope medical center, but Valdovinos Ramirez provided no evidence for this claim, according to the State Bar.
“Valdovinos Ramirez had made this claim in an attempt to justify various delays in his work for clients and in the disciplinary proceeding,” the State Bar reported. “An OCTC investigator testified that his investigation revealed that Valdovinos Ramirez was not being treated at the City of Hope, and there was no Dr. Stephen Chang who worked there.”
The State Bar Court Review Department said in June that the former attorney’s misappropriation of client funds violated basic concepts of honesty and may harm the public’s perception of the legal profession.
“(Valdovinos Ramirez’s) misappropriation of client funds was unrelenting,” the Review Department said. “Often, as soon as he received entrusted funds, he would deplete his bank accounts and use the entrusted funds for his own purposes, which included gambling. This misconduct was exacerbated by the additional dishonesty in which he engaged. (Valdovinos Ramirez) lied to his clients to stall the discovery of his misappropriation and his failure to follow through on work he had assured clients he had performed.”
The former attorney, who was admitted to the State Bar in December 2017, also wrote large checks to a client after falsely saying the client’s case had been settled, according to the State Bar. In truth, no funds were available to cover those checks.
Valdovinos Ramirez was tagged as ineligible to practice law in the state as of April 28 of last year, according to the State Bar’s website. When attorneys have to resign their positions due to charges or disbarment, there is no avenue for reinstatement in the legal profession during the five years after the effective date of the disbarment, the Southern California Record learned.
During the proceedings of the State Bar Court, an attorney who receives a notice of disciplinary charges is presumed innocent of the allegations until the court finds the attorney culpable of the charges by “clear and convincing evidence,” according to the State Bar.