Costa Mesa lawyer faces possible disbarment for keeping clients’ money while suspended over sex with teen

A Costa Mesa lawyer could be disbarred for not returning more than $120,000 of clients’ money when he was suspended from practicing law because of a conviction for having sex with a 17-year-old employee, according to the State Bar of California.

James Mazi Parsa, 50, was ordered to stop practicing this week after a State Bar judge found he had abandoned 43 clients and didn’t return the fees they paid him. Though the judge decided Parsa should be disbarred, the action isn’t final until approved by the California Supreme Court.

“Parsa accepted new clients and their fees even when he knew his license was about to be suspended in connection with the criminal conviction,” State Bar officials said in a news release.

Parsa was convicted in 2001 of two misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

In 2009, bar officials gave him an interim suspension while they decided how to discipline him for the conviction. He ultimately received a two-year suspension of his law license in 2014.

As the interim suspension was about to take effect, Parsa abruptly closed his law practice in Costa Mesa, according to the State Bar.

The office had about 100 employees who mostly handled loan modification cases for about 4,500 clients, according to bar officials.

“He failed to notify his clients that he intended to withdraw and would not be pursuing their loan modification applications,” the news release stated.

In addition to the 43 clients whose money Parsa kept, 1,130 people have filed complaints against him, according to the bar.