The Virginia State Bar has suspended a Lynchburg lawyer’s license to practice for a month because he did not follow accounting rules.
According to a statement from the bar, Peter C. Sackett’s suspension began Monday.
“The suspension … resulted from Mr. Sackett’s failure to comply with the terms of a public reprimand issued October 12, 2007,” the statement read. “He must employ a certified public accountant to bring his accounts into compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct or his license will be suspended for one year.”
Last year’s reprimand came from an investigation that started when American National Bank and Trust Co. sent overdraft notices to the state bar from Sackett’s account. According to the bar’s report, the trust account was overdrawn in mid-January 2007 for $760 and $1,542. Larry Palmer, clerk of the circuit court in Lynchburg, also reported Sackett gave him a bad check for a $551 court fee.
In both cases, the bar reported, Sackett covered the deficits when notified.
The report also notes that a bar investigator found other “instances since May 2006” in which Sackett’s real estate trust account was overdrawn. The investigation further found that Sackett kept incomplete and handwritten ledgers, apparently for real estate transactions, but concluded that clients had not been harmed by the record keeping or that Sackett was using the accounts for anything inappropriate.
During the initial investigation, Sackett’s license was revoked for three weeks in May and June 2007 for failing to provide investigators documentation for his bank accounts.
After the bar’s reprimand last October, Sackett was supposed to hire a certified public accountant to get his books in order. That didn’t happen, according to the bar, which led to the latest month-long suspension.
“This brought to light issues with a trust account that were supposed to be being addressed by my assistant,” Sackett said Wednesday.
Although he thought he was complying with the ruling, it was his responsibility to oversee that, he said. Since it didn’t happen, he agreed to “take a seat on the sidelines for 30 days,” he said.
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