Lawyer Who Stole From Plaintiffs in UCI Embryo Thefts Gets 4 Years

Melanie Rae Blum, the lawyer who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients, many of whom were victims of an extraordinary embryo theft scandal, was sentenced Friday to four years in state prison.

Blum, 55, who prosecutors said stole the money, in part, to fund a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and expensive clothes, sat in the Santa Ana courtroom handcuffed and wearing a blue prison jumpsuit. After turning in her chair briefly to face a group of relatives and friends, Blum remained stone-faced during sentencing as two of her former clients made emotional pleas for harsh punishment.

The case brought to a close a spectacular fall from grace for the Newport Beach attorney who had once been viewed as a hero for her efforts to get justice for women whose eggs had been stolen from a UC Irvine fertility clinic.

Joanne Laverson, one of scores of women who had embryos or eggs stolen by two UC Irvine fertility doctors in the mid-1990s for use in other women, lashed out at Blum for betraying the women while they struggled with the shock of the embryo debacle.

“We had very, very high hopes that she would find those babies,” Laverson told the court, her voice quavering as her husband stood beside her. “The only thing we heard [from her] was the settlement, the money, the money.

“She didn’t just steal our money,” Laverson continued as she began to cry uncontrollably, “she broke our hearts.”

Blum was the lead attorney in the landmark series of cases that led to the university paying nearly $20 million in settlements with 107 couples. As with other clients, she won a $150,000 award for Laverson, but then allegedly kept much of the money.

In September, Blum was convicted of 10 counts of grand theft stemming from seven fertility cases and three others she handled from 1992 to 1999 with her now ex-husband, Mark Roseman. Jurors in the trial were told that Blum was victimized by an abusive husband whom she had trusted with their law firm’s finances.

Roseman, who is serving his own four-year sentence, testified against his former wife at her two-month trial.

Lila Schmidt, a fertility physician who underwent treatment at the university’s now-defunct Center for Reproductive Health, angrily told the court Friday that she does not believe Blum has taken responsibility for her crimes.

“She has proven that she abuses the people she has promised to help without remorse and without conscience, and that makes her dangerous,” Schmidt said.

With Blum facing a maximum sentence of 10 years and eight months in prison, her lawyer, John Barnett, argued that she should be freed on probation. He acknowledged that she had committed crimes, but asked Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey to consider the “good work” Blum did as a lawyer and what, he said, was Blum’s frail psychological and physical condition.

“She has been stripped of her house, stripped of her name, stripped of her finances, stripped of her family. She has nothing left,” Barnett said.

In a report submitted to the court, Blum’s psychologist said she suffers from the effects of years of verbal and physical abuse inflicted by her mother, brother and ex-husband.

During the trial, Blum tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury that, while she was entitled to some of the settlement money, Roseman was primarily in control of their firm’s finances. She described her ex-husband as manipulative and cruel, saying he hit her and threatened to “snap her neck” if she tried to report him.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Doug Brannan told Toohey he believed Blum had yet to pay her 10 former clients more than $680,000 in settlement money.

He added that even after her conviction, Blum had refused to discuss her finances with court officials in an effort to protect her property and a bank account she opened in Antigua.

Barnett disagreed, saying Blum owed less than $300,000. He told the judge that his client was broke and “has only the money she has borrowed.”

Toohey, who will decide next month how much Blum owes, denied her request for probation. But he also declined to impose the maximum sentence. Both sides declined to comment on the four-year sentence, although Barnett said he planned to appeal.

Schmidt said the prison sentence brought her small comfort. “Are you serious? Do you know how much pain she inflicted? She has taken no responsibility for what she has done.”