Man disbarred for draining funds
A Spokane businessman, attorney and West Valley School Board member has been disbarred for emptying the trust accounts set up by his grandfather for the education of his nieces, nephews and own three children.
Robert N. Dompier, 53, took over $47,000 from the accounts in what investigators believe was an effort to rescue his failing real estate investments. Dompier agreed to waive a Washington State Bar Association hearing – where he could have presented evidence in his defense – and stipulate to his disbarment without admitting to the charges laid out by the bar disciplinary committee.
The disbarment was effective Thursday and the stipulation agreement, reached in February, was made public.In the document laying out the charges, the bar association’s disciplinary board says if the matter had gone to a public hearing, “There is a substantial likelihood that the Association would be able to prove … the facts and misconduct.”
Dompier did not immediately return a phone call to his Spokane Valley home Thursday seeking comment on his disbarment. He was admitted to the practice of law in Washington in July 1980, but has “voluntarily ceased practicing law and is employed in a non-legal position,” the bar association said.
He had no prior discipline from the bar association. A West Valley School Board member since 2000, his current term expires in 2009.
According to the facts laid out by the bar association, Dompier’s grandparents, John and Marjorie Dompier, established the trust funds for the education of their great-grandchildren. The family owned the former John Dompier Oil Co., a Spokane-based gas distributorship.
“In or around” 1996, Robert Dompier assumed management of the funds and set up individual Charles Schwab accounts with himself as the custodian for his three children and the five children of his three brothers, Tim Dompier, Jim Dompier and John Dompier.
In 1999, Dompier began investing in real estate in his name and that of his wife, Lorraine.
His plan to sell the properties and profit from them faltered, and “expenses began to exceed the income associated with the real estate properties,” the bar association said.
Around 2000, Dompier began withdrawing funds “to which he was not entitled” from the custodial Schwab accounts and depositing the money in his personal accounts, “thereby unlawfully converting the funds,” the stipulated order says.
Three years later, all the Schwab accounts, totaling $47,731, had been drained of money and were closed.
Dompier wrote a letter of apology in March 2004 to his brothers, nieces and nephews acknowledging what he’d done and promising to pay the money back.
Four months later, he and his wife filed personal bankruptcy, with his relatives listed as creditors for the money owed.
After Dompier failed to pay back his relatives, his brother John filed a grievance with the bar association on July 31, 2006. Dompier promised to reply to the bar association within two weeks, but it took him more than a year.
In August 2007, Dompier told the bar association he’d invested the funds in rental real estate on behalf of the trust beneficiaries but the real estate had been lost to foreclosure.
The bar association said that response “was not complete or truthful” because the real estate investments weren’t made in the name of the trusts and Dompier “did not invest the funds withdrawn from the Schwab accounts in rental real estate.”
Dompier violated rules for lawyers prohibiting theft, dishonesty and corruption, the bar association said.
“Disbarment is generally appropriate when a lawyer knowingly engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed as a professional with the intent to obtain a benefit for the lawyer or another,” the lawyer’s licensing group said.
Dompier was ordered to set up a payment plan to reimburse his relatives and pay $337 in costs to the bar’s disciplinary board.