Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Prominent Cuban exile loses his law license
A prominent member of Miami’s Cuban exile community agreed to have his law license revoked after the Florida Bar determined that he misappropriated client funds, the state’s supreme court announced Tuesday.
Alfredo Duran, who was first admitted to practice law in Florida in 1967, was among 19 attorneys whose Florida Bar discipline cases were made public.
Duran, 81, was granted a “disciplinary revocation” last month, which has the same practical effect as being disbarred. The Florida Bar had determined that Duran misappropriated client trust funds and failed to respond to written Bar inquiries.
Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Duran declined to comment.
Duran took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and landed in a Cuban jail for 18 months. He came to Florida afterward and earned a law degree from the University of Miami. He later became a chairman of the Florida Democratic Party and an advocate of lifting the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba.
He will not be allowed to reapply for a law license.
In other disciplinary action, the court granted a similar revocation to Steven Slootsky, a South Florida personal injury attorney who pleaded guilty in a patient kickback scheme.
Slootsky, who had an office in Boca Raton, had asked the court for that punishment, according to The Florida Bar. He will be allowed to reapply for a license in 2028.
Slootsky, 57, was among four area lawyers arrested last September on allegations that they paid car accident victims to refer as patients to doctor’s offices. Those medical practices would then give the lawyers money, or kickbacks, for the referrals, arrest records show.
In October, Slootsky pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges, including multiple counts of patient brokering and illegal insurance solicitation. He agreed to pay back more than $170,000 to 11 insurance companies, cooperate fully with Broward prosecutors, and serve a minimum of 500 hours of community service.
Defense attorney Howard L. Greitzer said Tuesday that Slootsky’s sentencing remains pending. His client faces up to five years in state prison and at least 10 years of probation, and he will not be allowed to practice law while on probation, according to the terms of the plea deal.
According to investigators, the lawyers would pay runners from tow yards and body shops to solicit car-crash victims for them. The lawyers then referred the victims for medical treatment to Margate Physicians or Broward Spine Associates in Plantation, which would pay the attorneys cash for the referrals.
“After the patient was brokered to the health care facility, the facility was then able to begin treatment and bill the auto insurance companies for claims covered by the PIP benefits, which resulted in fraud on the insurance companies,” according to arrest records.
Slootsky was originally admitted to the Florida Bar in 1985.
Four other lawyers from Broward and Palm Beach counties were recently disciplined by the Florida Supreme Court. According to a Florida Bar news release they are:
Gerald W. Adams of Fort Lauderdale. He was suspended for 91 days, for failing to diligently represent two clients. “He required one client to sign two separate fee agreements; he had memory lapses at trials; made misrepresentations to The Florida Bar, he commingled personal funds with trust funds, and he failed to appear for a hearing,” the release stated.
Brett A. Elam of West Palm Beach. He was suspended until further order. According to a petition for emergency suspension, Elam “appeared to be causing great public harm by misappropriating more than $34,000 in client trust funds.” He also violated multiple court orders and made misrepresentations to a creditor and a bankruptcy court.
Melissa A. Heaton of Cooper City. She will be publicly reprimanded after being found in contempt for noncompliance. She failed to comply in a timely manner with the terms of a July 5, 2017, suspension order.
Gary W. Kovacs of Boca Raton. The court granted Kovacs’ petition for a “disciplinary revocation,” which is basically the same as disbarment. Kovacs faces allegations of theft of firm funds from a former employer.