A disbarred lawyer convicted of stealing money from Toronto diet doctor Stanley Bernstein, “will never get involved in a situation like this again,” her counsel said Wednesday while asking a judge to consider imposing a 12-month sentence in a provincial jail.Norma Walton, 49, a mother of four, was convicted by a jury in June of illegally obtaining two $3-million mortgages without the consent of Bernstein, with whom she had formed a real estate partnership. During their run, they acquired 31 GTA-area properties — until he turned off the tap over suspicions of financial irregularities.On the final day of Walton’s sentencing hearing Wednesday, defence lawyer Howard Cohen said there are many “exceptional circumstances” around the case. They include a crushing $66-million civil judgment hanging over the head of Walton and her husband that, unusually, survives any declaration of bankruptcy. The Waltons “may be hamstrung” forever, dogged by creditors and unable to have a “second start” as bankruptcy laws intended, Cohen said.The prosecution is seeking a six-year term in federal prison but concedes a lesser sentence may be appropriate depending on the amount of money the judge decides was transferred illegally from the two mortgages.Bernstein invested more than $100 million in real estate properties Walton was entrusted to develop. Cohen said it’s clear Walton got in over her head and believed she could match his contributions — as required by their partnership agreement — by “moving money in places where it was needed.”Those included properties in which Bernstein had no stake and her personal bank account. “What really went on is she tried to do what she could, using pooled money, to make things profitable and fulfil her obligations to Dr. Bernstein,” Cohen said. The pressure on Walton was impossible, Cohen said, in light of everything including the non-involvement of ...
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