A Suffolk Superior Court jury found that Benjamin Tariri, 68, embezzled nearly $2 million in funds entrusted to him by eight of his clients.
Tariri will serve a three-to-five-year prison sentence and was ordered to repay $575,000 in restitution. He was also ordered to seek treatment for his gambling addiction, which he funded with the embezzled funds.
After several clients and attorneys complained to the Board of Bar Overseers, the Bar conducted an investigation that ultimately led to Tariri's disbarment in 2023. During the investigation, Tariri submitted ledgers that falsely indicated he was holding funds for clients when he had actually already spent those funds on unauthorized transactions.
Maria Papadopoulos "Disbarred Boston attorney gets prison time for stealing nearly $2M from clients" yahoo.com (Mar. 12, 2026).
Commentary
Rule 1.15 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, or its equivalent, requires that lawyers who are entrusted with the property of law clients and third persons in the practice of law must hold that property with the care required of a professional fiduciary.
This rule is founded in a lawyer's fiduciary obligation to safeguard trust property, to segregate it from the lawyer's own property, and to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Rule 1.15 specifically requires a lawyer to preserve "complete records" regarding trust accounts, and a lawyer must "promptly render a full accounting" for the receipt and distribution of trust property.
Here is the model rule: "Rule 1.15: Safekeeping Property":
Client-Lawyer Relationship
(a) A lawyer shall hold property of clients or third persons that is in a lawyer's possession in connection with a representation separate from the lawyer's own property. Funds shall be kept in a separate account maintained in the state where the lawyer's office is situated, or elsewhere with the consent of the client or third person. Other property shall be identified as such and appropriately safeguarded. Complete records of such account funds and other property shall be kept by the lawyer and shall be preserved for a period of [five years] after termination of the representation.
(b) A lawyer may deposit the lawyer's own funds in a client trust account for the sole purpose of paying bank service charges on that account, but only in an amount necessary for that purpose.
(c) A lawyer shall deposit into a client trust account legal fees and expenses that have been paid in advance, to be withdrawn by the lawyer only as fees are earned or expenses incurred.
(d) Upon receiving funds or other property in which a client or third person has an interest, a lawyer shall promptly notify the client or third person. Except as stated in this rule or otherwise permitted by law or by agreement with the client, a lawyer shall promptly deliver to the client or third person any funds or other property that the client or third person is entitled to receive and, upon request by the client or third person, shall promptly render a full accounting regarding such property.
(e) When in the course of representation a lawyer is in possession of property in which two or more persons (one of whom may be the lawyer) claim interests, the property shall be kept separate by the lawyer until the dispute is resolved. The lawyer shall promptly distribute all portions of the property as to which the interests are not in dispute.
