Michael Bauer, a prominent gay political activist and attorney, is the respondent in a complaint that charges him with fraud and breach of fiduciary duty by siphoning almost $200,000 out of his brother’s children’s trust fund. Mary Robinson, administrator of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (IARDC) filed the complaint June 17; Bauer was served July 8.
The complaint states that Bauer’s brother, Jerry, created a $1.2-million trust fund account for his three minor children in 1992; Michael Bauer was named as trustee.
In 1994, Michael Bauer withdrew $100,000 from the account with his brother’s full knowledge. The respondent agreed to draft and execute a promissory note ‘as evidence of the withdrawal.’ (According to the complaint, as of June 8 of this year, Bauer was in default regarding the note.)
However, the document also states that between July 2003 and May 2004, the respondent wrote 15 unauthorized checks from the investment account totaling $197,000 to himself.
In an e-mail to Windy City Times, Bauer said the familial rift involved in the filing of the complaint has been healed. In the e-mail to WCT, Bauer said the entire situation started because he attended a social event instead of a family-related one, but that the suit was ‘dropped shortly after it was filed.’ In fact, in a subsequent phone interview, he added that the matter was settled between the brothers ‘over a year ago.’
However, when questioned why the legal situation is still happening, Bauer stated that he ‘honestly has no clue. My attorney filed a response [on Aug. 11] and, among other things, we said that it’s all resolved. I don’t know if the commission is aware that this all old history.’
Bauer is a board member of the Windy City Media Group.