TALLAHASSEE (Florida Record) — Palm Beach attorney Frederick Joseph Keitel III has been indefinitely suspended following a July 10 Florida Supreme Court order for failing to respond to official inquires after he was sanctioned by a bankruptcy court, according to court documents and a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Keitel was found in contempt for failure to respond to official bar inquiries regarding a complaint against him," the state bar said in its July 31 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
The Supreme Court handed down its two-page order suspending Keitel following a state bar petition for contempt and order to show cause. Keitel's suspension was effective 30 days from the date of the court's order to allow him time to close out his practice and protect his existing clients' interests, according to the high court's order.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion does not alter the effective date of Keitel's suspension.
Keitel was admitted to the bar in Florida on May 23, 1991, according to his profile at the state bar website. No prior discipline before the state bar is listed on Keitel's state bar profile.
In April the state bar filed a complaint for reciprocal discipline following a 43-page order issued by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Florida's Southern District the previous December. Keitel is the debtor in the Chapter 7 case before the bankruptcy court that stems from disputes "with certain of his partners", according to the bankruptcy court's order. Allegations against Keitel included recording a conversation with his formal counsel without his consent, disseminating the recordings after the court told him not to, engaging in conduct intended to disrupt the proceedings and making misrepresentations to the Palm Beach Police Department.
Keitel also attempted to have the presiding bankruptcy judge disqualified.
The bankruptcy court found Keitel in contempt and suspended him for five years.
In its petition for contempt and order to show cause filed in May, the state bar said Keitel's responses to its inquiries had been with unrelated documents and assertions, and then he didn't respond to a state bar request for further information regarding document relevance. A state bar grievance committee later found Keitel in contempt.