THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509100055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ASHEVILLE LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The lawyer for fallen evangelist Jim Bakker used more than $1.5 million in money entrusted by clients to run his Hendersonville firm, an attorney says.
James H. Toms of Hendersonville admits he took the money from trust accounts and clients' estates. He said he will voluntarily surrender his license to practice law and will resign from the North Carolina State Bar.
``It obviously did not go for any high-fashion living,'' said Toms' attorney, Harley Stepp. ``It did not go for any of the usual things you expect in this sort of thing. No beach houses, no luxury living. . . . No drugs, no alcohol, no women - none of that.''
At least 14 estates Toms handled are involved in the case, Luella Crane of the State Bar told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
A criminal investigation is a definite possibility, said District Attorney Jeff Hunt, who learned of the situation Thursday from Toms' attorney, Harley Stepp.
Toms was a longtime adviser to Bakker, who was convicted in 1989 of defrauding legions of PTL followers of more than $150 million.
When Bakker left federal prison on a work release program August 1994, he worked in Toms' law office. Toms has continued to be an adviser and spokesman for Bakker, who now lives in rural Henderson County.
In a written affidavit to the state bar, Toms said he is the target of a misconduct investigation, and acknowledges truth of the ``material facts'' - that he misappropriated approximately $150,000 of client funds from an attorney trust account and nearly $1.4 million from estate funds he controlled.
The misappropriations occurred from 1986 to present, according to Stepp. by CNB