Attorney Sandeep Baweja has withdraw as counsel in a class action case after he confessed in court papers that he lost a large portion of the $2.7 million settlement.
Baweja was supposed to distribute the funds amongst 800 class members who sued ZipRealty. He instead placed the money in an Ameritrade brokerage account last spring, according to the Daily Journal. Court papers claim that Baweja lost everything except for $54,000 due to bad investments as well as the state of the stock market.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero said, “I’m extremely, extremely disappointed in what occurred here, but my disappointment pales in comparison to the class.”
Jeffrey Rutherford of Crowell & Moring is Baweja’s lawyer. Rutherford claims that Baweja borrowed more than $500,000 from friends and family in an attempt to payback the lost settlement. He has also notified the state bar as well as state and federal authorities about his actions.
Baweja’s admission stunned colleagues, according to the Orange County Register.