in guardianships.

Soon Lee Crompton's money started disappearing.

Huber, now age 31, was the guardianship's lawyer from December 1997 to October 1999, when Judge Speiser removed him by an emergency court order. Under Huber's watch the balance in Lee Crompton's bank account dwindled. Facing an investigation by the Florida Bar, Huber filed a petition for permanent disciplinary resignation without the possibility of readmission -- in other words he voluntarily turned in his license to practice law in Florida. Then he vanished. Hunter & Hunter did not respond to New Times' inquiries regarding Huber. The $231,000 Pembroke Pines house he shared with his wife stands empty, weeds shooting up through paving stones in the courtyard. Contacted through his legal counsel, Mark Braverman, Huber declined to comment for this story.

Fortunately Broward Countyin New York City. Judge Speiser granted the order in January 1998.

Monica Ryan, a high-school classmate of Huber's, worked as an account assistant at Lehman Brothers. Taft, the court investigator, states Ryan came down from New York to "wine and dine" Peter Crompton in an effort to secure the account. When she later transferred to the Miami Lehman Brothers office, she brought the Crompton account with her. Huber divorced his first wife, Michelle, in February 1998, and married Ryan in April. (Ryan did not respond to inquires at her lawyer's office or to a letter sent by New Times to her New York address for this story.) As a means of boosting interest income from the settlement money, Huber convinced Peter to invest in home mortgages. In essence