He was released on $50,000 unsecured bond. Kevin J. Kotch, Abramowitz's attorney, declined comment after the arraignment.
Abramowitz was formerly a partner and vice president of the now-defunct law firm Klevan & Abramowitz, P.C. (Authorities said nobody else at the firm was implicated in any wrongdoing.)
Mitchell Klevan, Abramowitz's former law partner, said yesterday: "[Abramowitz] had been my colleague for a long time. I felt toward him like a brother. The betrayal I feel is so deep. It's a great hurt."
Prosecutors said that from March 2005 until December 2008 Abramowitz embezzled the funds and deposited them into his personal bank accounts.
In some cases he even endorsed checks issued to clients by forging their signatures and depositing funds into his accounts, the indictment said.
Abramowitz allegedly negotiated legal claims and executed settlement agreements in civil lawsuits unbeknown to his firm's clients, lied to them about settlement amounts and created bogus documents to perpetuate his lies.
Abramowitz specialized in personal injury, medical malpractice and product-liability cases, according to the legal directory Martindale-Hubbell.
The indictment said he spent the funds himself or diverted them to a favored client, identified in the indictment only as "D.P.," and her family.
The feds are also seeking forfeiture of almost $1.1 million and a 2008 BMW sedan.
Abramowitz's law license was suspended in 2009 by both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and federal district court here, and in March of this year by federal district court in New Jersey.
