New York Lawyer Suspended for Sherman Act Conspiracy

An attorney who conspired with others to submit “non-competitive and collusive bids at public auctions for tax liens to suppress and eliminate competition in the bidding process in various New Jersey municipalities” was suspended by a New York appeals court.

Attorney Robert E. Rothman’s three-year suspension, imposed by the Appellate Division First Department on March 5, mirrored the one imposed by New Jersey’s Supreme Court in Sept. 2018 and is retroactive to May 2012.

While under those terms, Rothman’s suspension would have ended in 2015, he remains suspended in New York because he failed to register with the Office of Court Administration and has been suspended for that since Oct. 2010, the appeals court said.

Rothman pleaded guilty to one count of Sherman Act conspiracy in March 2012 in a New Jersey district court and was then temporarily suspended. He was ultimately given the three-year suspension for committing a” criminal act that reflected adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer,” the New York court noted.

The New Jersey disciplinary review board found as mitigating factors that Rothman cooperated with the government and expressed remorse for his actions, the New York court said.

Rothman, who doesn’t intend to practice any longer in New York, asked the New York court to impose the same sanction as New Jersey because he wants to apply for reinstatement to practice law in New Jersey “and is concerned that a prospective suspension in New York could lead to further reciprocal discipline in New Jersey,” the appeals court said.

Nevertheless, he remains suspended in the state for his failure to register, it concluded.

The case is Matter of Rothman, 2020 BL 81844, N.Y. App. Div., No. M-7920, 3/5/20.