Ex-attorney sentenced to 1-year term in thefts

By William Cole
Advertiser Courts Writer

Former attorney Mark M. Cusmano was sentenced yesterday to five years' probation and one year in jail for stealing $184,000 in client money.

Cusmano, 37, faced up to 10 years' imprisonment as part of a January agreement in which he pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including first-degree theft, forgery, racketeering and money laundering in the misuse of money belonging to 15 clients between January and August of 1999, authorities said.

But Circuit Judge Richard Perkins said Cusmano was remorseful, expressed an intent to pay restitution and has been permanently disbarred from the practice of law. The judge ordered Cusmano to pay $172,500 restitution at a rate of $10 a month before he finds a job.

"He can't do it (pay restitution) while he's in prison for 10 years," Perkins said.

Honolulu Deputy City Prosecutor Randal Lee said Cusmano forged signatures on settlement checks from civil cases and deposited the money in his own account. Lee had asked for the 10-year sentence.

"Paying $10 a month — I'm 57 years old. That isn't going to help," said Dolan D. Dolan, a Big Island woman who said Cusmano settled her 1997 automobile injury case for $25,000 without her knowledge and kept the money.

The former massage therapist said she can no longer work as a therapist because her arm was mangled in the car crash, and she now is on welfare.

Defense attorney Howard Luke said his client "robbed Peter to pay Paul" to keep his practice afloat and support his family.

"He took money from one client's settlement to pay off people he owed money to," Luke said.

Cusmano apologized to Dolan, saying he lost the "idealism" he started out with as an attorney.