Opinion: attorney disbarred for failure to report cash payment
A. Mark Vanderveen appealed the Washington State Bar Association Disciplinary Board’s recommendation that he be disbarred after his guilty plea for willful failure to file a currency report after receiving cash payments amounting to $20,000. The hearing officer determined disbarment was the presumptive sanction but found mitigating factors and recommended a three-year suspension. The Board modified several of the hearing officer’s findings, including two mitigating factors, and instead recommended disbarment. The Supreme Court, with Justice Charles Johnson writing, upheld the disbarment.
Justice Sanders dissented, arguing that the appropriate sanction for Vanderveen would be a suspension from practice as a willful failure to file does not constitute dishonesty for the purposes of an attorney disciplinary proceeding.
The Seattle Times has this summary of the case.
