A Long Island lawyer alleged to have misused client funds has been disbarred after offering her resignation. Alice Phillips Belmonte of Wading River resigned, acknowledging she could not successfully defend herself on the merits relating to four complaints based on notices from the Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection about six dishonored escrow checks.
The dishonored checks, dated between December 2011 and March 2012, totalled just over $4.5 million, according to Timothy O’Sullivan, executive director of the fund. In her resignation, Belmonte also acknowledged she could not successfully fight another four matters under investigation alleging misuse of funds in her attorney escrow account.
