After long-time New Haven lawyer was arrested Thursday on charges he ripped off a client on a mortgage refinancing deal.
Morris Olmer, 81, of Bellevue Road, practiced law in New Haven for over half a century before resigning from the bar in the summer of 2008. He resigned after his license was suspended in 2007 due to a separate rip-off complaint.
Olmer is a former alderman and state legislator. He was charged Thursday with first-degree larceny, a Class B felony, according to a release by the state Division of Criminal Justice. He faces one to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
Olmer “allegedly swindled a client out of the major portion of the proceeds of a mortgage refinancing by failing to make the payoff of the previous mortgage,” according to the release.
The arrest stemmed from a complaint brought against Olmer to the Statewide Grievance Committee. The client was “on the brink of foreclosure” at the time. The Client Security Fund, a state fund designed to help victims of bad lawyering, paid off the mortgage and saved the client from foreclosure, according to the release.
Olmer was arraigned Thursday in Superior Court on Elm Street and released on a promise to appear on March 18.