Did you know that the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Senator Neda Imasuen, who recommended the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti, was stripped of his bar licence in New York, U.S., over allegations of multimillion-dollar fraud and gross misconduct in 2010?
A document obtained by Law & Society revealed that Imasuen was disbarred for life in New York after he defrauded his client and absconded with representation fees without making an appearance for her in court.
Meanwhile, The Gazette spoke with a court officer who said Imasuen was permanently disbarred after collecting money from a client and failing to represent her. He also refused to comply with the disciplinary panel’s attempt to investigate his misconduct.
Daphne Shyfield hired Imasuen to represent her on a matter in 2009 and paid him tens of millions of dollars for legal fees.
Instead of appearing for Ms Shyfield, Mr Imasuen absconded with the money, a move that triggered a morass of petitions, given that his actions contravened existing New York bar code and rules.
Despite being served with petitions on multiple occasions in the U.S., Mr Imasuen failed to respond to any of the petitions and did not ask for an extension of time to file a response.
The Edo South senator, instead, fled to Nigeria with Ms Shyfield’s funds to lay low and escape disciplinary actions from the Grievance Committee, the body responsible for issuing rulings for the infractions of jurists.
Following several failed attempts to obtain a response to petition files, the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts terminated Mr Imasuen’s licence to practice law in New York.
“Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, is disbarred, and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law,” reads a decision of the Grievance Committee on May 10, 2010.
“Neda Bernards Imasuen is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk, or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counsellor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board, commission, or other public authority,” reads a notice of his disbarment.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, Mr Imasuen, 66, rode on the waves of the Labour Party to win the Edo South senatorial poll in 2023 and wormed his way to becoming the chair of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.
That the same man with a 15-year-old history of disregarding petitions was now heading the Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions called into question the integrity —if any, of the people in the nation’s leadership positions.
Last Wednesday, Mr Imasuen was quick to dismiss Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment petition against Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the ground that it did not follow due process.
The Edo senator dismissed the petition as “dead on arrival” because Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan signed the document, which he said violated the Senate rule book. He later accepted it on Friday after the female lawmaker resubmitted it with the signature of her constituent’s member.
Imasuen did not immediately return comments on his New York disbarment.
His disbarment is typical of many Nigerian politicians who commit crimes on foreign soil and flee to Nigeria with fraud proceeds, with which they contest elections.
Former speaker and the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, equally had his law licence terminated by the State Bar of Georgia in the U.S. over his corruption and ethical lapses. He admitted to stealing $25,000 from his client.
Senator Imasuen’s disbarment by the New York Supreme Court adds yet a new name to the growing list of individuals with tainted pasts occupying high-ranking government positions in Nigeria.
Read the full judgment below.
Matter of Imasuen 2010 NY Slip Op 04193 [75 AD3d 51] May 11, 2010 Per Curiam., J. Appellate Division, Second Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, August 4, 2010
[*1] In the Matter of Neda B. Imasuen (Admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen), an Attorney, Respondent. Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts, Petitioner.Second Department, May 11, 2010
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Diana Maxfield Kearse, Brooklyn (Myron C. Martynetz of counsel), for petitioner.
{**75 AD3d at 52} OPINION OF THE COURT
Per Curiam.
The Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts (hereinafter the Grievance Committee) moves to impose discipline on the respondent based on his failure to file an answer to the petition within 20 days, as the decision and order on application dated July 2, 2009 directed him to do, and to deem the charges against him, as set forth in the petition, established.
On July 20, 2009, the Grievance Committee personally served the respondent with the petition and the decision and order dated July 2, 2009. The petition contains two charges of professional misconduct based on the respondent’s engaging in a pattern and practice of failing to cooperate with the Grievance Committee’s investigation and neglect of a legal matter entrusted to him by a client, Daphne Slyfield.
The respondent has failed to either submit an answer to the petition within the time [*2]permitted or make an application for an extension of time in which to answer. He is, therefore, in default, and the charges against him must be deemed admitted.
Although served with the Grievance Committee’s notice of motion to impose discipline on the respondent based on his default by mail on September 16, 2009, and in person on September 21, 2009, the respondent has failed to reply or request additional time in which to do so.
Accordingly, the respondent is in default and is disbarred on default.{**75 AD3d at 53}
Prudenti, P.J. Rivera, Skelos, Fisher and Dillon, JJ., concur.
Ordered that the petitioner’s motion is granted upon the respondent’s default; and it is further,
Ordered that, pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, effective immediately, the respondent, Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, is disbarred, and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law; and it is further,
Ordered that the respondent, Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, shall comply with this Court’s rules governing the conduct of disbarred, suspended, and resigned attorneys (see 22 NYCRR 691.10); and it is further,
Ordered that pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, the respondent, Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk, or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board, commission, or other public authority, (3) giving to another an opinion as to the law or its application or any advice in relation thereto, and (4) holding himself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law; and it is further,
Ordered that if the respondent, Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, has been issued a secure pass by the Office of Court Administration, it shall be returned forthwith to the issuing agency and the respondent shall certify to the same in his affidavit of compliance pursuant to 22 NYCRR 691.10 (f).
https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/appellate-division-second-department/2010/2010-04193.html
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