Judge Adds 2 Years

Adrian Humphreys, National Post

Monday, April 20, 2009

A Toronto lawyer who abused his legal status to hide his role in the
international drug trade has had his prison sentence substantially
increased, sending a stern warning to a privileged profession that is often
removed from police scrutiny.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has sentenced Simon Rosenfeld, 63, to five years
in prison for money laundering instead of the three he received at trial,
citing his status as a lawyer as a "significant aggravating factor" worthy
of harsher punishment.

"Those privileged to practice law take on a public trust in exchange for
that privilege and the many advantages that come with it," wrote Justice
David Doherty for the court.

"He was ready and willing to abuse these specific privileges available to
him because of his status as a lawyer to enhance his money-laundering
services. [Rosenfeld's] willingness to prostitute his legal services and
abuse the special privileges associated with them are significant
aggravating features of his conduct."

The court felt Rosenfeld's sentence should be raised, in part, to balance
the unique position of lawyers in not having to report large financial
transactions undertaken on behalf of their clients to the government, unlike
bankers, stockbrokers and most other professionals.

Further, Rosenfeld flagrantly abused solicitor-client privilege -- a sacred
principle of the legal profession that makes many conversations with a
lawyer private--by knowingly using that cloak of secrecy to hide criminal
activity.

Rosenfeld also drew particular ire because of his mockery of Canada's
justice system -- saying it was "20 times safer" for a lawyer to launder
money in Canada than in the United States and that prison terms here are
notably light.

He made the remarks while he was counting a huge pile of cash, which he
thought was drug money but was, in fact, part of an elaborate police sting.

The sting was a joint RCMPFBI investigation code named Operation Bermuda
Short.

Over dinner at a restaurant in Miami in 2002, an RCMP undercover officer,
posing as a representative of a Colombian drug cartel, handed Rosenfeld a
US$1 bill and asked if that meant they now had a solicitor-client
relationship; Rosenfeld said it did. The officer then laid out what he
wanted: the cartel needed to move $3-million a month in illegal drug
proceeds into the banking system so it would appear to be legitimate income.

Rosenfeld offered to do it for a 12% commission. The officer offered 5% and
they settled on 8%, with Rosenfeld adding one condition--he would only
handle drug money in Canada because he felt it was much safer here.

He backed up his incriminating words with illegal action. The officer met
him in Toronto and gave him $250,000 in Canadian cash. Rosenfeld laundered
the money through a series of transactions and bank accounts in the names of
shell corporations, eventually forwarding it to the Florida bank accounts
controlled by the supposed drug cartel. A few weeks later, the officer gave
Rosenfeld $190,000 in U. S. cash, which likewise was routed to the Florida
accounts.

"This is all coke money," the undercover officer told Rosenfeld, who earned
about $43,000 in commission on the two transactions. (He was later ordered
to pay this back as a fine. He has not yet done so.)

He was arrested in 2002 and in 2005 was convicted of two counts of
laundering the proceeds of crime and one count of attempting to possess
money obtained by crime.

His appeal took four years to be heard, during which he was free on
$1.95-million bail.

"Lawyers are duty-bound to protect the administration of justice and enhance
its reputation within their community. Criminal activity by lawyers in the
course of performing functions associated with the practice of law in its
broadest sense, has exactly the opposite effect," wrote Justice Doherty.

"Lawyers like [Rosenfeld] who choose to use their skills and abuse the
privileges attached to service in the law not only discredit the vast
majority of the profession, but also feed public cynicism of the profession.
In the long run, that cynicism must undermine public confidence in the
justice system."

At Rosenfeld's appeal hearing in March, prosecutor Jason Wakely argued that
lawyers who become criminals should, as a whole, be treated more harshly by
the courts to counter-balance lawyers' status as the group most difficult
for police to investigate.

The court of appeal did not go that far.

"I do not adopt Crown counsel's sweeping condemnation of sentences imposed
on lawyers for this kind of offence. I do, however, accept the submission
that in the specific circumstances of this case, a significantly longer jail
term was required," wrote Justice Doherty.

Nevertheless, Lorne Sossin, a law professor at the University of Toronto and
academic director for the school's Centre for the Legal Profession, said the
case should serve as both a sentencing guideline for future lawyer-criminals
and as a cautionary tale within the legal community.