Filing # 29423303 E-Filed 07/08/2015 05:45:05 PM IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA THE FLORIDA BAR Supreme Court Case No.: SC15-1011 Complainant, The Florida Bar File No.: 2012- vs. 50,591(150) RICHARD SAM LEHMAN Respondent. RESPONSE TO COMPLAINT Respondent, RICHARD SAM LEHMAN, by and through his undersigned counsel, for his Answer with Affirmative Defenses and Mitigating Circumstances, states and alleges as follows: 1. Admit 2. Admit 3. Admit 4. Admit 5. Admit 6. Admit 7. Admit, but affirmatively asserts that the audit also determined that all funds were used solely for the benefit of the Estate of Wilson Lucom. 8. Admits, that funds were transferred from the estate account into Mr. Lehman's Operating Account, but affirmatively states that no funds were retained by Mr. Lehman or by his law firm and that all funds were used for the benefit of the Estate of Wilson Lucom. 9. Admit, that for a brief period of time, that Respondent comingled funds by placing the funds in his Operating Account, but states that all funds were used for the benefit of the Estate of Wilson Lucom and that, as more particularly hereinafter set forth, that Mr. Lehman co-mingled the funds negligently and in an effort to protect those funds from dissipation by third parties from the Country of Panama. 145552.0060 I/I 00667802v. I 10. Admit that Mr. Lehman paid expenses of the Estate of Wilson Lucom from his operating account, rather than leaving the funds in the Estate Account, but affirmatively states that although Mr. Lehman's actions in so doing were wrong, that there were mitigating circumstances surrounding his misguided decision to do so, as hereinafter explained in detail. 11. Admit that through his negligence and in a genuine effort to protect the estate funds from unscrupulous parties in Panama, that Mr. Lehman violated Rule 5-1.l(a)(l) of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. Affirmative Defens es and Mitigating Circumstances 1. Richard S. Lehman has been a member of the Florida Bar for over 45 years. Lehman was born in Florida and is a long time resident of South Florida. Until the complaint in this case was filed, he never had a single Bar complaint filed against him and has scrupulously followed the law and his ethical obligations without a mark on him. 2. Before starting his private practice in Florida, Lehman graduated from Georgetown Law School in Washington D.C., obtained an LLM, master's degree in tax law at New York University Law School and served for years as a Senior Attorney with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States and as a law clerk to Judge William Fay on the United States Tax Court in Washington D.C. 3. Lehman has held an "AV" rating as an attorney since early in his career. Mr. Lehman also served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army Reserves. Prior to commencing work as the Executor of the Estate of Wilson C. Lucom, he had never been accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever and was held in the highest regard in his community by individuals from the political, religious, legal, financial and other sectors. During Mr. Lehman's 45-year history with the Florida Bar, he has taken his -2- 145552.00601/100667802v. l obligations to the public seriously. As early as 1978, Mr. Lehman edited, published and provided to the Florida Department of Commerce a book titled "A Guide to Florida International Business and Investment Opportunities," one of the first books in Florida promoting international commerce. He presently offers to the Florida legal community, free of charge, twelve (12) credit hours of continuing education credits in the field of tax law via video webinars. 4. Mr. Lehman has admitted to commingling assets of the Lucom Estate over a period of a few months from the Fall of 2006 until January 2007, and acknowledges that doing so was a result of his negligence and his efforts to protect those funds from unscrupulous individuals and judges in Panama, as more particularly hereinafter explained in detail. He is sincerely remorseful as to his error in judgment, but was under tremendous pressure, as hereinafter explained. 5. None of the commingled funds were used to benefit Mr. Lehman or his law firm and all funds were used for the Estate of Wilson Lucom, and paid out within a four month period together with nearly one million dollars of Mr. Lehman's own funds that he paid on behalf of the Lucom Estate in an effort to uphold the expressed intention of the will of Wilson Lucom. Moreover, Mr. Lehman received no compensation or fees for the hundreds of hours of time that he expended on behalf of this estate. 6. Richard Lehman and Wilson Lucom were friends and enjoyed an attorney client relationship in Palm Beach Florida for over thirty years before Wilson Lucom moved to Panama with his third wife, Hilda, a Panamanian and U.S. citizen. On June 2, 2006, Lucom passed away in Panama, and shortly thereafter the Fourth Civil Circuit Court in Panama, (the "Panamanian Probate Court"), on July 5, 2006, appointed Lehman as the -3- 145552.0060 I/I 00667802v.1 sole Executor of the Lucom Estate (hereinafter "Order 1025"). See Exhibit A hereto. Lehman's appointment was later confirmed by the Panama Appellate Court. Exhibit A-1 hereto. 7. Mr. Lucom's Will separately identified all his property, with particular emphasis on his real estate holdings (the "Real Estate"). Mr. Lucom left all of his identified Real Estate directly to a Panamanian Foundation whose sole purpose was to feed the poor and starving children in Panama. See, Exhibit B hereto. The main piece of Real Estate, a seven thousand (7,000) acre parcel of land in Panama on the Pacific Ocean (Hacienda Santa Monica), belonged to a Panamanian corporation known as Hacienda Santa Monica, S.A., which was 100% owned by Lucom at the time of his death. Since Lucom's death in 2006, the value of the property held by Hacienda Santa Monica S.A. has skyrocketed to more than One Hundred and Forty Million Dollars ($140,000,000). This property was clearly and unambiguously earmarked in Lucom's will to go to the poor children of Panama. 8. At the time of his death, Mr. Lucom was married to his third wife, Hilda Lucom ("Hilda"), a Panamanian and US citizen, who was then 83 years old and in poor health. Mr. Lucom had no children of his own. Hilda had five (5) children with her first husband, Gilberto Arias, a Panamanian citizen and lineal descendant of one of the most powerful families in Panama. The Arias family is a Panamanian family with two presidents in their lineage and who, among others, controlled Panama's most powerful political party at the time of Mr. Lucom's death. They were also the owners of Panama's second largest newspaper, the Panama American. Mr. Lucom was alienated from Hilda's children in Panama. -4- 145552.0060 I/I 00667802v.1 9. The dispositive provisions of Mr. Lucom's Will leave no doubt as to his wishes. Mr. Lucom expressed that Hilda, who was independently wealthy from her first marriage into the Arias family, was to receive the couple's multimillion-dollar home in Panama and a fixed annuity during her lifetime. The remainder of Mr. Lucom's assets, after the payment of several specific bequests, in unambiguous terms, was to pass to the Wilson C. Lucom Trust Fund Foundation with the single goal to benefit the poor children of Panama. In furtherance of maximizing the amount that ultimately was to pass to the Foundation, Mr. Lucom's Will provided that the annuity sum that Hilda was to receive under his will "shall be solely for her use while she lives, and after her death all bequests end, and what was given to her must be returned to the WILSON C. LU COM TRUST FUND foundation, as of her death. No principal or interest account shall go to the estate of HILDA PIZA LUCOM". 10. Mr. Lucom again reiterated his intent in other sections of his Will. "My wife's grandchildren and other relatives must look to their inheritance from their parents, who are wealthy." Relative to his charitable foundation, Mr. Lucom stated: I am the sole owner of Hacienda Santa Monica, which has no liens or mortgages. I instruct my Executors to place my Hacienda Santa Monica on the market. ... The product of the sale of Hacienda Santa Monica must go to the WILSON C. LU COM TRUST FUND Foundation. The main objective of the FUND A CI ON WILSON C. LU COM TRUST FUND is to feed needy children in Panama. I instruct my trustees to find an area where there are children's schools that don't have any meals for lunch, and lack the usual needs and those provided by schools where lunch is provided. -5- 145552.0060 Ill 00667802v. l 11. Mr. Lehman, as Executor of Wilson Lucom's Estate was charged with the responsibility of being legally and morally obligated to protect the Estate for its rightful beneficiaries, the starving children of Panama. It was a responsibility that Mr. Lehman took very seriously and which he endeavored to fulfill despite incredible obstacles placed in his path by Hilda and her children who were aided and abetted by their Panamanian attorneys, willing Panamanian prosecutors and Panamanian judges. 12. Although, Mr. Lehman had for decades successfully practiced law in the United States, neither he nor any lawyer who has grown up in the American legal system with its respect and reverence for the law could be prepared for the power of corruption in the Panamanian legal system or the greed of the powerful Arias clan, who were intent on stealing Lucom's fortune from the poor children of Panama.