Writing that attorney Stephen L. Fox has offered “only vague, unsupported and incredible explanations” for his “delay and evasion,” a New York appeals court has disbarred Fox after he failed to produce records tied to allegedly bounced trust-account checks, a failure he based in part on being the victim of a “Haitian related crime gang” that instilled fear in him.

The disbarment of Fox, a New York- and Connecticut-based lawyer who it appears spent years at small and midsize firms before founding his own in 2013, comes after the Appellate Division, First Department’s attorney grievance committee spent more than two and a half years asking for documents tied to three checks totaling $16,458 issued from his attorney trust account that were dishonored, according to an appeals court opinion issued Tuesday that disbarred him.