Missing Florida Attorney’s|Firm Sued for $600,000

WEST PALM BEACH (CN) - A disbarred Florida attorney who went missing with millions of dollars of clients' escrow money owes more than $600,000 for kick-boxing shoes, a manufacturer claims in court.

Golden Pacific LXJ sued Ringstar and McCabe & Samiljan, in Palm Beach County Court. Timothy McCabe's company Ringstar makes kickboxing shoes.

It's the seventh lawsuit involving McCabe and his law firm, McCabe & Samiljan, since McCabe went missing in April, according to the Courthouse News database.

McCabe, of Boca Raton, disappeared, allegedly after bilking business associates and stealing clients' escrow money.

McCabe's law partner discovered more than $3 million missing from the law firm's trust account and their title company's escrow account, according to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, which cited Florida Bar records.

The FBI and Boca Raton police are investigating McCabe's disappearance.

A lawsuit filed in May accused McCabe of stealing $130,000 from two clients' escrow accounts, and a chunk of investment money entrusted to his law firm by the plaintiffs' corporate predecessor.

In another May lawsuit, a client claimed McCabe had converted his escrow money and induced him to give him a $30,000 business loan that McCabe never repaid. That client the law firm failed to supervise McCabe, and that his partner stood idly by while "vast amounts of money [were] being ricocheted into and out of" Samiljan and McCabe's clients' escrow accounts.

In yet another lawsuit, a couple claimed McCabe used $72,000 of their escrow money to pay off his mortgage.

After McCabe disappeared, he sent a message to his wife and law partner, saying that he had made "a series of very bad business decisions," according to that complaint.

Regions Bank sued McCabe in 2011, claiming he had failed to pay more than $100,000 due on a loan.

In the most recent lawsuit, Golden Pacific, a shoemaker operating in China and New York, claims McCabe and his Florida-based company Ringstar bilked it for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

McCabe took control of Ringstar, a Boynton Beach company selling patented shoes for karate and kickboxing competitions, in 2010. Started in 1999 by five-time world kickboxing champion Steve Shepherd, Ringstar developed karate and kickboxing shoes. McCabe became involved in the business in 2007 when he bought out Shepherd's original business partner, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

In 2009, Ringstar ordered thousands of Ultimate Fighting Championship-branded athletic shoes from Golden Pacific. The manufacturer used customized materials to make the shoes, which were labeled "UFC Fight Shoe," "Fight Pro," and "Throwdown," according to its complaint.

Golden Pacific claims it shipped some of the shoes from its Xiamen, China facility to Ringstar in Lake Worth, and continued to make shoes for the company.

It claims Ringstar paid a few invoices, but stopped making payments in May 2012.

Ringstar owes Golden Pacific more than $600,000 for the shoes it has received and the orders it placed, according to the complaint.

Golden Pacific claims McCabe, Ringstar's CEO, negotiated installment payments in 2012 to avoid being sued. The payments it did make toward the debt were held in escrow by McCabe & Samiljan, which did not release them to Golden Pacific, according to the complaint.

"In early 2013, Mr. McCabe was reported missing," the complaint states. "It was later reported that Mr. McCabe had fled Florida due to alleged misappropriation of client funds. Ringstar, however, was not implicated in any of these allegations. Further, no charges have been made against other attorneys at the law firm. After the allegations surfaced, the Florida Bar moved for and received an emergency order disbarring Mr. McCabe.

"On information and belief, M&S continues to do business as a law firm in Palm Beach County, Florida and has not been implicated, as a law firm, in any alleged breaches of duty involving Mr. McCabe and his clients."

Golden Pacific wants money owed and wants the money released from the law firm's escrow account.

It is represented by Elio Martinez Jr. with Concepcion, Martinez & Bellido, of Coral Gables.

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