but Fagan failed to pursue the case after 1996. After that, Fagan did not see, visit, or speak with his client. In another case, Fagan failed to submit a claim for Tom Giron to a New York state fund that compensates victims of uninsured motorists. Mr Giron was struck and severely injured in 1992 by a car reported stolen, but did not receive any compensation, because, according to Jeffrey Rubinton, the fund's president, a claim was never filed and "its records showed that such an action had not been pursued and that the statute of limitations on making one had long expired." Another client, Offer Salmoni, won a $167,000 malpractice judgment against Fagan, because Fagan repeatedly failed to make court appearances in his eviction case, and so the statute of limitations expired without refiling. New Jersey ethics officials filed a misconduct complaint before a grievance committee against Fagan on behalf of Diane Gibbons, another former client, who complained that Fagan failed to submit required papers in her personal injury case, leading to its dismissal. During the proceedings Fagan was forced to admit that he failed to withdraw from suits that he could not pursue, excusing himself with the words: "I was in over my head a lot of the time." Sexual misconduct investigation The Jewish Daily The Forward'' reported in October 2005 that Fagan was engaged in a legal investigation about published accusations and sexual contacts with underage prostitutes in Austria. Austrian print and broadcast media reported that the state prosecutor in Vienna is looking into Fagan's contact with a prostitution ring that involved underage girls from Eastern Europe. Fagan confirmed the sexual contacts with a 17-year-old Lithuanian prostitute named Inga but claims that he believed the prostitute to be at least 22 years old. Although prostitution is regulated in Austria, it is still illegal to knowingly hire a prostitute under the age of 18. The maximum sentence, according to § 207b (Sexual abuses of adolescents) of the Austrian Strafgesetzbuch (criminal law) is 3 years of imprisonment. Disbarment in New Jersey and New York In 2005, Fagan became the subject of an ethics investigation by the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics, accusing him of "knowing misappropriation" of client money. On April 2, 2007, Appellate Division, 1st Department held that Fagan had "violated a number of disciplinary rules prohibiting an attorney from disregarding a court's rulings, engaging in conduct involving