A divorce lawyer from Tyler faces charges of stealing more than $235,000 from his client. The woman claimed that Bruce Bain admitted to spending her money and offered her a worthless check, according to an arrest affidavit. TYLER, Texas — Police arrested a Tyler lawyer on Friday for allegedly taking more than $235,000 from a woman he represented in a divorce case.
Bruce Bain, 56, of Tyler, was charged with property theft between $150,000 and $300,000 and booked into the Smith County Jail. He was released after posting a $500 bond.
The woman told police that Bain was her lawyer during her divorce from her former husband. She was entitled to receive $235,551.44 from the sale of the assets that were divided in the divorce. She said that Bain put that money into a trust account under the name of his law firm until the divorce was finalized. However, even after the divorce was over, she did not get her money. She said that Bain repeatedly lied to her that he had mailed her a check, but she never got it, the affidavit said.
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The woman also said that Bain confessed to her that he had already used up her money, and he could only give her a check that she could not cash. She said that her former husband got his share of the money. She said that Bain ignored her calls, according to the document.
Bain told police that he could not pay the woman her money because his account had a hold on it. He thought that the hold was imposed on his account just before the woman’s divorce was completed. He said he would call the investigator with more details about his bank account, the affidavit stated. The arrest document showed that the police obtained a subpoena for the records of the trust account.
The records revealed that there were several transfers from this account to two other accounts, which were both for the law firm’s checking and savings accounts. The author of the document then asked for a warrant for Bain’s arrest.
The State Bar of Texas website shows that Bain has been a Texas lawyer since 1994.
