Connecticut Attorney Charged With Larceny

Bridgeport, CT (WorkersCompensation.com) - A Bridgeport attorney was arrested today and charged with larceny as a result of a dispute concerning his fee for representing a woman in legal proceedings stemming from a Workers' Compensation case.

LAURENCE PARNOFF, age 72, of 3392 Huntington Road, Stratford, was arrested this morning by Inspectors from the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and charged with one count of Larceny the First Degree, a felony carrying a maximum term imprisonment of 20 years.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the Office of the Chief State's Attorney received a complaint from the Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel in the Judicial Branch alleging that Parnoff misappropriated funds received in the client's Workers' Compensation claim against a Bridgeport hospital.

The client, who was awarded a substantial settlement, took issue with the amount of the fee Parnoff demanded and the fee money was put in an escrow account while litigation ensued, according to the warrant. As a result of the litigation, Parnoff was awarded a substantial portion of the escrow account, but not all of it.

Despite that decision, on July 26, 2010, Parnoff appropriated the entire amount of the escrow account, $363,960, to himself, the warrant states.

Parnoff was released on a $50,000 non-surety bond and will be arraigned in Superior Court, G.A. No. 2, Bridgeport, on August 29, 2014. The charge is merely an accusation and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case will be prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney.

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