Attorney, AKA 'Excuseman,' Charged With Pocketing Settlement Funds

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 | 1

A disbarred Chicago attorney who created a comedic character called "Excuseman" is accused of stealing $1.1 million from clients, including workers' compensation claimants.

Jordan Margolis,
image from YouTube

The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that Cook County prosectors last week charged 61-year-old Jordan Margolis with 36 felony counts of theft, theft by deception, misappropriation of financial institution property, continuing a financial crimes enterprise and forgery. He was released on $150,000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport.

Margolis, who now lives in Los Angeles, has posted several YouTube videos featuring his Excuseman character riding along city streets on a Segway, clad in a cape and body suit cracking jokes about his ability to get passersby out of any jam.

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in February 2014 filed a complaint alleging that Margolis pocketed most of a $375,000 settlement that was supposed to go to workers' compensation claimant Les Johnson, who injured his knee while working for the William Wrigley Co. According to the complaint, Margolis initially paid Johnson $20,190.80 of the settlement and still owed $297,440.23 at the time the complaint was filed.

According to the complaint, Margolis also pocketed $182,162.52 of a workers' compensation settlement due to his client Angelo Rosachi; $102,415.63 from a workers' compensation settlement due to his client Sherry Tobias-Rontos; $58,950 from a workers' compensation settlement due to his client Maria Mendoza; and $20,982.09 from a workers' compensation settlement due to his client Michelle Eaton.

The complaint states Margolis also failed to remit all of the settlement funds due from a malpractice case and personal injury suits.

The Illinois Supreme Court disbarred Margolis in January 2015 and ordered him to pay restitution to his victims. His attorney told the disciplinary commission at the time that Margolis had hoped to repay his clients using funds from a lawsuit he had filed against a siren manufacturer he had accused of exposing emergency services workers to excessive noise that damaged their hearing.