2002-11-27 -- Burrick, Robert -- Indictment -- News Release

Former Law Partner Indicted for Allegedly Embezzling from Firm, Clients and Millburn Youth Soccer Club

NEWARK - A former law partner with a Morristown law firm was arrested today for allegedly defrauding the law firm, various clients he represented and the Millburn Soccer Club, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Robert Burrick, 49, of Short Hills, a litigation partner at Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch, L.L.P. from 1992 through mid-1999, was arrested today at his home by Special Agents of the FBI. Burrick's Indictment was returned under seal on Friday and unsealed with his arrest.

Burrick is scheduled to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk at noon today, at which time his bail will be set. Burrick's arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh, to whom the case has been assigned.

"The conduct alleged in this Indictment is outrageous from an attorney given the trust of clients, his former firm and the community," Christie said.

The 15-count Indictment charges Burrick with 11 counts of mail fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property (checks), each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; and one count of conspiracy to make false statements (to the FBI), which carries a maximum penalty of five years and a $250,000 fine.

According to Robert Kirsch, the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case, the Indictment alleges that, from mid-1997 until early 1999, Burrick misappropriated approximately $120,000 in total from the Pitney Hardin firm, his clients and the Millburn Soccer Club, where he was elected to serve as its Treasurer. The Indictment also alleges that Burrick directed others to provide false information to the FBI, which had been investigating Burrick since mid-1999, in an attempt to conceal the fraud.

Starting in mid-1997, Burrick allegedly moved approximately $35,000 from the client trust account of Advanced Photovoltaic Systems, Inc. (APS), of Princeton, to Candlewood Holdings, Inc. Candlewood was operated and controlled by Burrick's friend Alan Moore, who previously pleaded guilty in the case. Burrick is accused of then having Moore simultaneously give Burrick checks drawn from Candlewood's account, in the identical amounts, made payable to himself. Burrick then promptly deposited the checks in his personal bank account, according to the Indictment. Neither Moore nor Candlewood performed any services relating to APS, according to the Indictment.

Candlewood, in actuality, is a car wash in the Bronx, N.Y., which was owned in Moore's wife's name.

Burrick also is charged with paying approximately $6,000 to American Express, from APS's account, for his personal credit card charges for purchases at dozens of retail shops and restaurants and tickets to Broadway plays.

Burrick is also charged with misappropriating approximately $33,000 from the trust account of Syntrex, Inc., based in Eatontown, and another $7,500 from the Pitney Hardin firm itself, to pay the New York law firm of Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens. Burrick retained Haight Gardner, where he once worked, to provide legal assistance on another matter for his client, Wilshire Credit Corporation, a Portland, Oregon company.

There is no evidence of any impropriety by any members of Haight Gardner, Kirsch said. The firm appeared to provide legal services on Wilshire's behalf, although, as outlined in the Indictment, Wilshire had no knowledge of, and did not authorize, Haight Gardner's work.

Lastly, Burrick is charged with embezzling money on numerous occasions from the Millburn Soccer Club, a youth soccer league for the children of Millburn and Short Hills, where he lived. Burrick was elected by the parents of participating children in the Soccer Club to serve as an officer and director for the nonprofit soccer club. Over a six-month span in 1998 and 1999, Burrick, while serving as treasurer, allegedly embezzled more than $30,000, by issuing Soccer Club checks to himself, or to others, for his benefit. The Indictment describes Burrick's attempts to conceal the embezzlements by falsely recording in the check register that the improper payments were issued for soccer-related purposes, when in fact, they were issued to himself, or to his personal creditors.

For example - Burrick allegedly issued two payments from the Soccer Club to American Express totaling approximately $7,000, to pay for his personal charges such as purchases made in Italy, restaurants, clothing, appliances and long-distance telephone bills. In another instance, Burrick allegedly issued a $10,000 check from the Soccer Club to Candlewood, purportedly as an "investment" of the Soccer Club's money.

For his role in the fraud, Moore pleaded guilty in September to a one-count criminal Information charging him with conspiracy to make false statements. In a plea hearing held before Judge Cavanaugh, Moore stated that Burrick recruited him to help cover up his embezzlements from APS and the Millburn Soccer Club. Moore admitted that he made false statements to FBI agents on Burrick's instructions in an effort to conceal Burrick's wrongdoing. Moore also is subject to a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Burrick's scheme was detected in about late 1999, when Soccer Club Board members began questioning him on certain disbursements and demanded that he produce the Club's financial books for review, according to the Indictment. Knowing that a review of the records risked his exposure, Burrick allegedly began transferring funds from a series of checks from his client Syntrex, Inc.'s client trust account to Millburn Soccer, in the hopes of concealing his prior embezzlements. The matter was referred to the FBI for investigation by the United States Trustees Office, which administers bankruptcy cases.

U.S. Attorney Christie credited the Newark Division of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent In Charge Louie F. Allen, with conducting the investigation. Christie also credited the staff at the Office of the United States Trustee, under the direction of Donald F. Walton, acting U.S. Trustee. The U.S. Trustee's office handles the administration of bankruptcy cases.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirsch, of the Securities and Healthcare Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, in Newark.

-end-

Defense Attorney: Alberto Rivas, Esq., of Newark, N.J.