Battista

By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
The Patriot Ledger

BROCKTON - A Plymouth Superior Court jury found a disbarred Marshfield lawyer guilty on Friday of stealing more than $1 million from clients.

Gerard E. Battista Jr., 59, of Norwell, was charged with stealing $1.2 million from a half-dozen clients and using the money to buy a Jaguar, go to strip clubs and pay credit-card bills.

He was convicted on five charges of larceny and a separate and a more serious charge of stealing from a client older than 60. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Battista, an estate-planning lawyer, was disbarred by the Supreme Judicial Court in May 2006. His legal advice radio program on WATD was canceled in 2005 after station owner Ed Perry learned that his law license had been suspended.

Prosecutors said Battista never returned large sums of money that clients entrusted with him. In one instance, he allegedly pocketed the $200,000 proceeds from a client’s real-estate sale.

He paid it back only after he was sued, and he did it by using another client’s money, the state Attorney General’s Office said.

Battista was arrested in April 2006 at Logan International Airport. He had just returned from El Salvador with his wife.

He was released after posting $50,000 cash bail. He was ordered to wear an electronic device to monitor his whereabouts until his trial.

The Attorney General’s Office began investigating Battista after receiving information from Marshfield police and the state Board of Bar Over seers, which supervises lawyers.

Battista passed the bar exam in June 1994 and later used clients’ money to make a $52,000 payment on a Jaguar and pay credit-card bills and his mortgage, prosecutors said. He also allegedly transferred client’s clients’ money to his law practice.

He spent $14,000 at strip clubs such as the Foxy Lady and Club Fantasy, cashing checks made out to him self totaling $319,000, and wiring $200,000 to a Toronto bank, prosecutors said.

In October 2005, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered Battista to stop practicing law within two weeks and to, within three weeks, file papers showing that he had complied.

Battista failed to obey those orders and the court found him in contempt and appointed Kingston lawyer John Geary to take over his bank accounts and files to protect clients’ interests.

Assistant Attorney General James O’Brien tried the case.

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com .

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Friday, August 10, 2007