Cash for Cauley.

Gene Cauley needs cash. That much is clear.

As ArkansasBusiness.com reported on May 8, the Little Rock lawyer and real estate investor was called on the carpet by a federal judge in New York last month when he wasn't able to come up with the last $9.3 million of a $65.9 million settlement that had been left in his custody since late 2006.

Called on the carpet?

Actually, U.S. District Judge led S. Rakoff said it was "not unlikely ... that Mr. Cauley may have committed a crime or several crimes, that he may have committed disbarrable conduct in one or many ways."

It's not clear what happened to the money, except that it wasn't where it should have been. Cauley, through his lawyer, John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock, asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when Rakoff asked that question in a hearing on April 20.

It doesn't appear that this money was ever in what's known as an IOLTA account--it stands for Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts. Those accounts are generally used for a mix of funds from various clients, and the interest they earn goes to support the IOLTA Foundation.

The settlement from a class action Cauley filed against The Bisys Group probably was supposed to be held in a single-purpose account, and the interest would have belonged to the clients on whom the principle would eventually be settled.

But Stark Ligon, executive director of the Arkansas Supreme Court's Committee on Professional Conduct, said lawyers are required to safeguard client money no matter who earns the interest.

"The bottom line, no matter where you put it, IOLTA or non-IOLTA, you are responsible for it," Ligon told "Whispers" last week.

The state does not routinely audit lawyer trust accounts, Ligon said, so Cauley may well have gotten away with what Rakoff inferred was "either misappropriated or otherwise misallocated" funds if he had been able to come up with the full $66 million by the time the last distribution was supposed to be made on April 8.

Hall said the last bit could not be "liquidated," although he indicated that it could be available within 90 days. Take from that what you will.

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