A New York law group and two of its attorneys are facing serious accusations that they diverted $20 million belonging to an Arkansas trust, allegedly transferring the funds to a man linked to a criminal fraud scheme instead of holding them in escrow as agreed.
In a complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Ronald Patrick Cameron Trust and its affiliated company, RPC Ventures LLC, sued Warren Law Group, Scarinci & Hollenbeck LLC, and attorneys Christopher Warren and Scott J. Oh. The plaintiffs claim the defendants violated escrow agreements and failed to account for how the funds were disbursed.
According to the filing, the trust and RPC Ventures entered into agreements in October 2023 to provide business loans to Varsity Financial Holdings and Versity Invest LLC. The contracts included non-depletion clauses—provisions prohibiting any disbursements or withdrawals before an initial loan advance.
Despite the absence of such an advance, Warren Law Group, through attorney Scott Oh, allegedly accepted two $10 million deposits into its client trust account (IOLTA) and later failed to safeguard or properly account for the money. The plaintiffs assert that when they sought confirmation of the funds, Oh misrepresented the account balance, falsely claiming in January 2024 that the IOLTA account still held both $10 million deposits.
By that time, Warren Law Group had merged with Scarinci & Hollenbeck, according to the complaint. In May 2024, Oh informed RPC that he had left the merged firm, yet the plaintiffs say the lawyers continued to evade their questions about where the funds had gone.
Repeated inquiries from RPC allegedly led to the discovery that the money had been transferred to an account belonging to James William Byrd, or one of his associates. Byrd, who was later accused in a separate racketeering scheme in Dallas involving Velanos Principal Capital, reportedly told RPC representatives during a video call that he controlled the funds.
When RPC and Versity principals later met Byrd in California, he suffered a fatal medical episode during the meeting. The complaint states that Byrd’s laptop was open, displaying a lock screen reading, “If FOUND, PLEASE RETURN TO: Law Offices of Scott J. Oh.”
Oh later admitted he had been representing Byrd in unrelated matters, according to the suit.
Following Byrd’s death, his estate was named in the separate Texas case and ultimately defaulted, leading to a $4 million federal judgment in July 2024 against his estate and other defendants. Byrd and his estate are not named in the New York suit.
The plaintiffs brought 10 claims, including breach of contract, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Attorneys Jeremy M. Amar-Dolan and Tristan D. Hujer of Phillips Lytle LLP, along with Seth Haines of RMP LLP, represent the Ronald Patrick Cameron Trust and RPC Ventures LLC.
Counsel for the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is Ronald Patrick Cameron Trust et al. v. Warren Law Group et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-08583, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
