Pity for Las Vegas attorney Jill Hanlon may have been misplaced

For years I've felt sorry for a woman I've never met -- Jill Hanlon.

She was the wife of Las Vegas attorney Lawrence Davidson, who first skipped with $350,000 of his clients' money in 2004, leaving a letter saying he'd always love her. Then he came back, but skipped again rather than go to prison for forging a federal judge's signature and face trial with his father, Donald Davidson, in a separate bribery case.

During his 2005 sentencing, Lawrence Davidson's attorney went overboard in his argument for leniency and suggested Davidson committed crimes because "his better half wanted a lifestyle he couldn't provide."

Again, I felt sorry for her. Hanlon, a Las Vegas attorney with a practice in tax law and estate planning, seemed like a victim unfairly being castigated by her ex-husband. After I defended Hanlon in a column, both Davidson and his attorney said the attorney misspoke.

But recently she was charged with victimizing an elderly man with diminished capacity, Richard Sage.

If true, it seems my pity was misplaced.

Hanlon has been charged with one count of elder exploitation and two counts of filing a false document. One allegation in the elder abuse count: She charged the man $16,800 for 10 hours work, or $1,680 an hour.

Her co-defendant, Jamal Eljwaidi, is charged with six separate counts of elder exploitation, accused of defrauding Sage of more than $400,000.

Officials believe there are other victims of Eljwaidi's golden tongue. He also went by the name Jean Marc and if you have any information about where he might be or his companies, Babuski LLC and JKG Development, you're asked to contact the secretary of state's Las Vegas office at 486-2440.

(Wonder who will come back to Las Vegas first to face criminal charges -- Hanlon's ex-husband or her co-defendant? Or neither?)

Hanlon was Sage's attorney in his dealings with Eljwaidi in 2005 and 2006. During this time, according to the criminal complaint, she completed loan application papers for him that allegedly "falsely represented his occupation, length of time in said occupation and income."

The two false-documents charges involve omissions in the list of managers for Executive Concept LLC, the company she set up for Sage and his investments.

Hanlon's attorney, George Kelesis, said, "In my opinion, she hasn't committed any wrongdoing. She'll continue on with her day-to-day life until it's resolved."

Little was made of the complaint when it was first filed by the attorney general's office in May, but now state authorities are asking for the public's help in finding more victims and finding Eljwaidi. One person believed to be a new victim is 85 and has terminal cancer.

If the charges against Eljwaidi are true, there's no feeling sorry for him. A man who preys on the elderly, the mentally disabled and the terminally ill gets no sympathy.

Eljwaidi was working for Triple Five Development when he got to know Sage, whose wife was looking for a site for her home furnishings store. Eljwaidi suggested Boca Park, a Triple Five property.

Later, Eljwaidi suggested Sage become his partner in a real estate investment and start a business on a property in southeast Las Vegas near Russell Road and 215. Eljwaidi also convinced Sage to invest $155,000 in two condos at Trump Towers, according to the complaint. When that purchase was canceled, Sage had to sue to get the escrow money returned.

Sage invested more than $400,000 with Eljwaidi and officials say he and his wife are now destitute. At the time Hanlon was representing Sage, her former father-in-law, Donald Davidson, a former Triple Five executive, was caught up in his own legal issues. He wasn't convicted of bribing County Commissioner Erin Kenny, despite her testimony that he did. But he was convicted of attempting to bribe former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, offering $50,000 for a zone change.

Jill Hanlon's ex-father-in-law is in prison. Her ex-husband is a fugitive. And now she's facing criminal charges.

If she is convicted, she could lose her license to practice law, just like her former husband.

If she's acquitted, I could feel sorry for her again. But a diagram of her relationships sure puts Jill Hanlon in the center of an intriguing web of characters.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/.