TALLAHASSEE – Tampa attorney Moein "Moe" Marashi was suspended following a May 17 Florida Supreme Court order regarding allegations he failed to comply with requirements of his suspension in December for misappropriation, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Marashi failed to comply with the court's order (Dec. 26, 2018) to notify clients, opposing counsel and tribunals of his suspension," the state bar said in its May 30 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order.
In its two-page order, the Supreme Court approved the state bar's petition for contempt, found Marashi in contempt and, as a sanction, suspended him for one year. Marashi was already suspended, which meant his the latest sanction was effective immediately.
The court also ordered Marashi to pay $1,250 in costs.
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 Marashi's suspension.
Marashi was admitted to the bar in Florida on Oct. 2, 2002, according to his profile on the state bar website.
Marashi was placed on indefinite suspension in December following a Supreme Court order, which granted the state bar's petition for emergency suspension that alleged Marashi misappropriated at least $84,772 in client funds.
The December suspension followed a state bar investigation that turned up the alleged misappropriation from the settlement of a wrongful death suit that Marashi received in February 2017, according to the state bar's petition for emergency suspension.
Last October, a 13th Judicial Circuit Court judge ordered Marashi to distribute proceeds from the settlement to the estate's personal representatives but Marashi failed to do so and the judge ordered the attorney to appear before her with a cashier's check in the full amount. When Marashi failed to do so, the judge issued a warrant for his arrest, which occurred in late November.
Marashi invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during a subsequent hearing and the judge found him in contempt, setting a purge of $3,000, which Marashi paid and then was released.
The state bar had three additional cases open against Marashi, all for allegedly stealing settlement funds from clients, according to the petition.