SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio attorney who surrendered his law license in 2018 must begin paying restitution to his victims as soon as next week after accepting a plea deal in a felony forgery of the elderly case, according to a copy of the plea agreement obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders.
Tamer Morsi, who resigned his license to practice law in November 2018 in lieu of the state taking disciplinary action against him, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 7.
Morsi was the focus of several complaints, filed with law enforcement and the State Bar of Texas, that stated he cashed an insurance check meant for a client and kept the proceeds, and accepted money from other clients and failed to file cases or paperwork on their behalf.
Even though Morsi faced up to 10 years in prison, prosecutors have recommended that he be given deferred adjudication as long as he begins paying back two of his victims.
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As part of an agreement signed Oct. 30, Morsi must pay the victims a total of $22,250 and avoid contact with them.
Four thousand dollars in restitution must be ready “up front” at Morsi’s sentencing in order for the plea deal to be honored, court records show.
Morsi could be sentenced up to six years in prison, if he is unable to hold up his financial end of the deal.
Morsi will serve 10 years of community supervision and must perform 80 hours of community service as part of the agreement.
It will ultimately be up to the judge assigned to the case to accept or reject the deal.
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Court records show an unrelated family violence charge against Morsi was dismissed in early November.
A yet to be filed theft case against Morsi was taken into consideration as part of the plea agreement, records show.
Counting the criminal complaints and state bar actions against Morsi, he owed his former clients at one point more than $88,000.
Morsi declined to address his legal problems when questioned by the Defenders after one of his court appearances this summer.
One victim told the Defenders she disagreed with the decision by prosecutors to offer Morsi a plea agreement.