[ by Howard Haykin ] A personal injury attorney has been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients, trying to coerce them to drop complaints against him and forging letters in their names in an attempt to have the complaints withdrawn. The attorney, John Ioannou, 57, was indicted in Manhattan Supreme Court on charges of grand larceny, forgery, scheme to defraud, and other crimes. He pled not guilty. Prosecutors claim Ioannou embezzled money from 3 clients by settling their cases and then keeping the money while cutting off all contact with them.  In some cases, clients filed complaints with the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division, First Department, and Ioannou paid them back on the condition that they withdraw their complaints, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.  Prosecutors also accused Ioannou of writing phony letters purportedly from his clients to the disciplinary committee, requesting that their complaints be dropped. Back in November, Ioannou was suspended for 3 months from practicing law for taking an unsecured, interest-free $50,000 loan from a former client in violation of ethics rules. The case is: People v. Ioannou, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 3901/2012.   John Stovall of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, is representing Ioannou.    [Reuters, 8/22/12]