Disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer accused of stealing client funds, Broward deputies say
Broward deputies say Todd J. Herman, a disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer, stole more than $100,000 from clients even after two suspensions and a disbarment.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies booked disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer Todd J. Herman into the Broward County Main Jail on Tuesday after investigators said he misappropriated more than $100,000 from clients over three years. A judge set bond at $200,000 in bond court Wednesday morning as Herman faced charges of obtaining property by fraud, money laundering, financial structure violation and misapplication of an insurance premium.
Herman, 42, had already lost his license before the arrest. The Florida Bar admitted him in 2010, temporarily suspended him on Oct. 6, 2023, suspended him again on July 29, 2024, and the Florida Supreme Court disbarred him effective Sept. 25, 2025. The Bar’s disciplinary records say he failed to account for client funds, failed to deliver client funds to clients, failed to keep clients reasonably informed and failed to respond to official Bar inquiries.
Investigators said the alleged thefts ran from 2022 to 2025 and included settlement money belonging to clients. Court records also show some clients filed civil cases in Miami-Dade County and Broward County seeking their money back, a sign that the dispute had already spilled into the civil courts before the criminal arrest.
The warning signs were already public. The Florida Bar member profile for Herman’s practice listed the two suspensions and the disbarment in its 10-year discipline history, and the Supreme Court entered a $5,955 costs judgment against him in the disciplinary case. Those are the records Broward residents can check before hiring or paying any lawyer: confirm the attorney’s active status, review the discipline history, and look for suspensions, disbarment dates and public sanctions before turning over settlement funds.
Herman’s case adds to a string of South Florida lawyer-misconduct prosecutions centered on client money and trust accounts. In June 2025, disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer John Spencer Jenkins was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for misappropriating more than $750,000 from clients, underscoring how often regulators and law enforcement have been forced to confront settlement-fund theft in the region.
For clients, the practical test is simple: a lawyer handling money should have an active Florida license, a clean disciplinary record and a transparent accounting of every dollar that moves through the case. Herman’s record shows what happens when those safeguards fail.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
