Myrtle Beach attorney reprimanded and fined

Attorney: Robert S. Guyton

Location: Myrtle Beach

Bar membership: Member since 2001

Disciplinary action: Publicly reprimanded and fined $5,000 on April 13.

Background: Guyton was reported to the South Carolina State Ethics Commission in January 2010. In January 2019, Guyton and the State Ethics Commission entered into a consent order in which Guyton admitted that in 2009 he engaged in an effort to maximize financial support to certain favored political candidates running for local and statewide election. In connection with this effort, in June 2009 Guyton instructed his bookkeeper to order numerous cashier’s checks that ostensibly derived from 14 different limited liability companies. After the checks were prepared by the bank, one of Guyton’s employees delivered them to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce office. The checks were then distributed to the candidates by the MBAC chairman. In total, 148 cashier’s checks were issued in amounts totaling $183,000. Guyton admitted that he personally funded these political contributions, as most of the LLCs had little or no money of their own, and that he had previously provided these candidates the maximum political campaign contribution allowed, and as such, the subsequent contributions were excessive as a matter of law. Guyton admitted to violating Section 8-13-1314 of the South Carolina Code by providing the contributions to the candidates.

Previous discipline: None

All information contained in the Bar Discipline Roundup is compiled and edited by Lawyers Weekly editor in chief David Donovan. He can be reached at [email protected].