Ex-N.H. Judge Indicted on Charges of Stealing $1.8 Million From Clients

A former state judge has been indicted on charges that he stole about $1.8 million from clients of his law practice, the attorney general’s office announced Friday.

John Fairbanks was named in four counts in an indictment returned Thursday, and Sullivan County Superior Court issued a warrant for Fairbanks’ arrest.

Fairbanks resigned in June as a judge in Newport District Court after more than 30 years on the bench, and he also tried to resign from the state bar. However, the state Supreme Court would not accept his resignation in order to retain disciplinary jurisdiction, and instead suspended him from practicing law.

The indictment alleges that Fairbanks, 66, stole the money between December, 1983, and last April from his private law clients, from beneficiaries of trusts for which he was trustee and from heirs of estates for which he was executor, Davis said.