SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — New York attorney Benjamin Yu, admitted to the bar in California 12 years ago and disbarred in New York in 2016, faces disbarment by default following a California State Bar Court recommendation over Yu's alleged part in an East Coast bribery scandal.
The court also recommended Yu be ordered to pay costs, according to the the six-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued June 28 by the state bar court.
The state bar's recommendation is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties can request further review within the state bar court.
The state bar court's recommendation included an order that rendered Yu involuntarily enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar of California. That order was effective three calendar days after service, according to the recommendation.
Yu failed to participate in person or via counsel and state bar's decision and order for disbarment was entered by default. In such cases, in which an attorney fails to participate in a California State Bar disciplinary proceeding despite adequate notice and opportunity, the bar invokes Rule 5.85, which provides the procedure for the state bar to recommend an attorney’s disbarment.
The office of chief trial counsel has had no contact with Yu since the default was entered against him in December ,and Yu has other disciplinary matters pending him, according to the decision and order.
Yu's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for June.
Yu was admitted to the bar in California on June 1, 2006, according to his profile at the state bar website. Yu was disbarred following an October 2016 New York conviction on conspiracy and bribery charges over allegations he persuaded criminal defendants to retain Yu as their attorney, according to the decision and order.
Yu was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for his alleged part in the case.