Leonard Leibowitz, the lawyer currently representing Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians in their season ending strike, was indicted yesterday in US District Court with stealing $150,000 from a ballet dancers union he helped create in 1994. Leibowitz is accused of writing checks to himself, his law firm and his ex-wife from the treasury of the now defunct Independent Artists of America, a union for the dancers and stage managers of the American Ballet Theater. When confronted by union leadership about his withdrawal of funds for personal use, Leibowitz said that the money was a loan and that he needed it because he owed the government money and his children attended private school. Similar charges were dismissed against Leibowitz in 2009.
