Malcolm Wittenberg was disbarred yesterday by the D.C. Court of Appeals over his felony conviction for insider trading in California. He was a former partner in Crosby Heafey Roach & May’s patent practice in Oakland before the firm merged with Reed Smith in 2002.
Wittenberg had faced up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. In 2001, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco sentenced Wittenberg to one month in a halfway house, three years of probation, and a $10,000 fine. Wittenberg had represented Forte Software, Inc., an Oakland company that merged with Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Palo Alto in 1999. After learning of the pending merger, he bought 2,000 shares of Forte stock and then sold the shares less than a month after the merger, netting about $14,000 in profits, the indictment charged.
Wittenberg, who has been suspended from practicing law in the District since 2002, was disbarred in Virginia the same year, ultimately leading to reciprocal discipline being imposed by the D.C. Court of Appeals. He fared better in California. The State Bar of California repeatedly recommended disbarment, but the California Supreme Court ordered a three-year suspension with a fitness requirement for reinstatement. He has since been reinstated and serves as of counsel for Dergosits & Noah, an intellectual property firm in San Francisco.
Wittenberg says he never challenged the D.C. Bar Counsel investigation and hasn’t practiced in the District since the 1970s. He declined to comment on his felony conviction. “This was an event that happened in 1999. Quite frankly, I’ve moved beyond it,” he says.
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Posted by: how to trade currnecies | October 09, 2008 at 02:09 AM