LOS ANGELES — Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona of the State Bar of California said on April 5 to the LA Times that the agency was taking a fresh look at attorney conduct in Armenian Genocide insurance reparations cases following a Times investigation that detailed corruption and misdirection of funds in the AXA French insurance company settlement case.
“The State Bar is reviewing these cases to determine whether there is any new information that would warrant further action,” said Cardona, a former federal prosecutor appointed last year to lead investigations and prosecutions at the agency that regulates the legal profession in California. The bar previously disciplined one attorney and attempted to discipline two others in connection with the genocide litigation.
“There was a terrible injustice done when descendants of those murdered in the Armenian Genocide were denied their rightful settlements,” Cardona said in his LA Times statement. He described those already prosecuted as “most directly responsible for these misappropriations” but added, “the State Bar has the responsibility to take action when it becomes aware of new evidence.”
