Florida Supreme Court Disbars Immigration Attorney for Keeping Double-Paid Client Fees

Published Nov. 6, 2026. Case status is current as of that date.

When both a visa client and a regional-center sponsor pay the same legal fee, the duplicate payment is client money that belongs in trust—not the firm’s operating account. On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court of Florida disbarred Stephen Matthew Bander in The Florida Bar v. Bander, No. SC2021-0011, approving a referee’s report in full [1].

Status: Disbarred. The court rejected Bander’s challenge to guilt and to the sanction [1].

What the court found

According to the Supreme Court of Florida’s opinion [1]:

1. Bander represented three EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program clients (N, A, and F) investing through Miami Metropolitan Regional Center’s Skyrise Miami Tower project. He billed each client $25,000; Skyrise also offered to pay up to $40,000 per client in legal fees and separately paid Bander after the clients had already paid.
2. Between 2015 and 2017 he received $90,000 in Skyrise payments that were reimbursements owed back to the clients. Instead of depositing those funds in trust and promptly refunding, he put them in his operating account and used them for firm expenses.
3. He refunded the clients only after receiving an SEC subpoena in February 2017. The court held the misconduct warranted disbarment.

The person disbarred

Stephen Matthew Bander, Florida. Immigration attorney. Disbarred May 11, 2023 (Florida Bar v. Bander, SC2021-0011) [1].

Case status (as of Nov. 6, 2026)

Respondent	Court	Status	Source
Stephen Matthew Bander	Supreme Court of Florida, SC2021-0011	Disbarred May 11, 2023	[1]

Disciplinary status changes only through further court action.

Sources

1. Supreme Court of Florida, The Florida Bar v. Stephen Matthew Bander, No. SC2021-0011 (May 11, 2023) (FSU College of Law digital collection of the slip opinion). https://library.law.fsu.edu/Digital-Collections/flsupct/dockets/SC21-0011/op-sc21-0011.pdf