Diamond Bar Attorney Faces Disbarment

A Diamond Bar attorney accused of taking part in a massive loan modification scam faces disbarment after failing to show to several court dates.

Anthony J. Kassas, 35, faces 285 counts of misconduct involving 56 clients, according to California State Bar officials and federal investigators.

Kassas was one of several Southern California attorneys charged with misconduct as a result of joint investigation by the State Bar's Office of Chief Trial Counsel and the Attorney General's office into law firms and marketing companies running so-called “mass joinder” scams, state officials said.

What sets the Kassas case apart is that, at 260 pages, the disciplinary charging document is “the most extensive in recent State Bar history,” officials said.

State officials said Kassas took part in improperly soliciting clients, collecting unlawful advance fees, failing to provide proper accounting of funds and aiding the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyers.

According to State Bar Court Judge Donald F. Miles' recent order, Kassas was served a notice to appear to testify at his trial Sept. 5 but only his attorney showed up. The judge then ordered Kassas to appear on Sept. 6 and then again on Sept. 10, but he failed to appear on either date. The court struck Kassas’ responses to the charges and entered his default in the case on Sept. 11, officials said.

Kassas was placed on inactive status, temporarily ineligible to practice law and, unless the default is set aside, Kassas’ disbarment will be recommended to the California Supreme Court.

Kassas has been ineligible to practice law since December 2011. His Costa Mesa offices were shut down and taken over by state officials in September 2011. And in a strange coincidence, Kassas' law office was in the same building as OC Weekly, an alternative news publication.

An OC Weekly writer described “19 DOJ agents, and 42 agents and other personnel from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development office of Inspector General, California State Bar and the Office of the Receiver,” were at the scene.

The raid followed an announcement in August 2011 by Attorney General Kamala Harris that the California Department of Justice, in conjunction with the State Bar of California, sued multiple entities - primarily law offices – suspected of taking millions of dollars from thousands of homeowners who were led to believe they would receive relief on their mortgages, officials said.