Activist Bauer Suspended from Practicing Law
Activist Bauer Suspended from Practicing Law
by Amy Wooten
2006-10-11
Copyright by The Windy City Times
Prominent gay political activist and attorney Michael Bauer has been suspended for nine months from practicing law, effective Oct. 12.
Mary Robinson, administrator of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Desciplinary Commission, imposed the suspension with the consent of Bauer and the approval of a panel of the Hearing Board, for breaching his fiduciary duty as trustee of his brother’s children’s trust fund by borrowing nearly $200,000 without his sibling’s advance knowledge. The document also claimed that Bauer’s financial condition at the time made it unlikely that he would be able to repay those funds.
Bauer’s brother created a $1.2 million trust fund account for his three minor children in 1992. Michael Bauer was named as trustee, and had authority to borrow money from the trust.
According to the document, Bauer borrowed $100,000 from the trust in 1994 with his brother’s knowledge. Between July 2003 and May 2004, Bauer wrote 15 unauthorized checks from the investment account totalling $197,000 to himself.
Bauer has made contributions to many charitable organizations over the years, and is regarded as a leader in the GLBT community.
“I agreed to this just to get it behind me,” Bauer told Windy City Times. “I will tell you that I’m actually highly fascinated by the few people in our community who think they have so much time to be obsessed with me and my personal life, and yet, I think they seem to have so little time to actually understand their own ineffectiveness.”
Bauer had previously told Windy City Times that the familial rift had been solved over a year ago, and he was uncertain why the commission was going forward with the issue, which he felt was old history.
Bauer is a minority co-owner of Windy City Media Group, along with more than 20 similar minority stakeholders in the media company.
by Amy Wooten
2006-10-11
Copyright by The Windy City Times
Prominent gay political activist and attorney Michael Bauer has been suspended for nine months from practicing law, effective Oct. 12.
Mary Robinson, administrator of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Desciplinary Commission, imposed the suspension with the consent of Bauer and the approval of a panel of the Hearing Board, for breaching his fiduciary duty as trustee of his brother’s children’s trust fund by borrowing nearly $200,000 without his sibling’s advance knowledge. The document also claimed that Bauer’s financial condition at the time made it unlikely that he would be able to repay those funds.
Bauer’s brother created a $1.2 million trust fund account for his three minor children in 1992. Michael Bauer was named as trustee, and had authority to borrow money from the trust.
According to the document, Bauer borrowed $100,000 from the trust in 1994 with his brother’s knowledge. Between July 2003 and May 2004, Bauer wrote 15 unauthorized checks from the investment account totalling $197,000 to himself.
Bauer has made contributions to many charitable organizations over the years, and is regarded as a leader in the GLBT community.
“I agreed to this just to get it behind me,” Bauer told Windy City Times. “I will tell you that I’m actually highly fascinated by the few people in our community who think they have so much time to be obsessed with me and my personal life, and yet, I think they seem to have so little time to actually understand their own ineffectiveness.”
Bauer had previously told Windy City Times that the familial rift had been solved over a year ago, and he was uncertain why the commission was going forward with the issue, which he felt was old history.
Bauer is a minority co-owner of Windy City Media Group, along with more than 20 similar minority stakeholders in the media company.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 3:36 PM
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