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Nelson Fraley (WSBA No. 26742, admitted 1997), of Lakewood, was suspended for 3 years pursuant to an April 3, 2003 order of the Washington State Supreme Court approving a stipulation. The effective date of the suspension was retroactive to June 25, 2002. This discipline was based on his conduct in 2001 involving an attempt to unlawfully structure a currency transaction.
Mr. Fraley was an associate at a law firm “firm”. In 2000, a firm client and an undercover detective entered into a money laundering agreement. The client told the detective that Mr. Fraley could draft the legal documents to facilitate the money laundering scheme. In December 2000, the client asked Mr. Fraley to hold $9,000 in his trust account. Mr. Fraley believed this money was to set up a joint venture between the detective and the client. In late December, Mr. Fraley deposited $8,000 of the client’s money into the firm trust account. In February 2001, Mr. Fraley drafted a trust agreement for the client and the detective to sign. Mr. Fraley also counseled the client and the detective to structure their transactions so that the amount deposited each time would be less than $10,000 to circumvent the financial institution’s obligation to generate currency transaction reports. In April 2002, the Court accepted Mr. Fraley’s guilty plea to one count of Attempting to Structure a Currency Transaction, in violation of United States Code §5324(a)(3).
Mr. Fraley’s conduct violated RPC 8.4(b) prohibiting commission of a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.
Sachia Stonefeld Powell represented the Bar Association. Michael E. Schwartz represented Mr. Fraley.
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