Morton Grove lawyer charged with misusing client funds

MORTON GROVE, IL — A local attorney accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from his clients' assets for his own personal and business expenses will face a disciplinary hearing before state regulators.

Eric Sander, of Morton Grove, has been admitted to the Illinois bar since 2012. In a complaint filed last month on behalf of the administrator of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, he is accused of four counts of misconduct related to three real estate transactions and accounting errors.

The allegations include cases of misappropriation of client funds from an attorney trust account (IOLTA), which requires attorneys to keep their clients' funds separate from their own.

In April 2022, while representing the seller of a home in Lake in the Hills, Sander accepted a check from a buyer for $7,500, which he intended to hold as a down payment until the deal was closed.

The following month, the account balance dropped by about $1,780, even though the money had not yet been paid out and the closure had not yet occurred, according to the lawsuit, which accuses Sander of using the money for unauthorized personal or business expenses.

In June 2022, Sander deposited $12,998 into his IOLTA account. That money was to be held in escrow and released under the terms of a proportionation agreement until a tax bill was issued, the complaint says.

But the following month, before the trust funds were paid out, Sanders' account balance dropped by about $2,680, it was said.

This time too, prosecutors claim that Sander used the money for his own improper purposes.

A third real estate transaction described in the August 22 complaint involves the purchase of a home in Arlington Heights.

In January 2023, a client gave him $5,000 to purchase the home. But when it came time to complete the purchase in March 2023, about $1,400 was missing from his IOLTA account, the complaint says.

The Bar Regulatory Authority also alleges that during the period in question – April 2022 and March 2023 – Sander failed to properly maintain the required documentation for his IOLTA account, thereby violating another Supreme Court rule in addition to the one prohibiting “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

In response to a request from Patch, Sander admitted to embezzling his client's funds from the IOLTA account because he needed money for his suburban home and private school for his two children.

“I was in a difficult situation and had to borrow money from my IOLTA to pay my mortgage and my children’s school fees,” Sander said in an email.

According to the American Bar Association, it is not possible to legally “borrow” money from a lawyer trust account.

Sander attributed the discovery of his misconduct to a client's lack of money.

“A check deposited into my IOLTA account in the name of a client bounced, messing up the balance and causing a second check to bounce and cause this situation,” he said. “Every last cent was returned to the account and no one was harmed.”

Sander has not yet filed a response to ARDC's request for a hearing before a disciplinary committee, which will make findings and recommend disciplinary action if necessary.

He is entitled to present a defense during the trial. And as of now, he remains admitted to practice law in Illinois.