Friday, August 31, 2007

Feds Nail Two Attorneys In Unrelated Fraud Conspiracies

In two unrelated cases, a Virginia and a Kentucky atttorney have each gotten nailed by Federal authorities in conspiring to commit bank or wire fraud.

In Virginia:

The Fairfax County Times reports:
  • "A United States District Judge on Aug. 30 sentenced a former bankruptcy attorney from Fairfax, Leslie W. Lickstein, to 12 months and one day in prison following his conviction in May 2007 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Lickstein, 54, was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution."
Lickstein allegedly prepared a bogus HUD-1 closing statement involving a multi-million dollar home mortgage that ultimately went into default, causing the bank to take a $1.1 million hit. For more, see Attorney sentenced in mortgage fraud scheme.

In Kentucky:

An Associated Press report in the Lexington Herald-Leader states:
  • "Court documents unsealed in Lexington contain an admission by a 41-year-old lawyer that he conspired to commit wire fraud. Kim Clay of Lexington admitted in documents unsealed yesterday that he worked with real estate buyers and sellers to falsify information on mortgage forms, deceiving banks and mortgage companies. Clay is the owner of Universal Title. He was indicted in May, last year on state charges related to missing money from Universal Title's escrow accounts. As part of an agreement that Clay reached with federal prosecutors, the state charges will be dropped."

Source: Lawyer admits conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Go here for stories on other alleged escrow agent mishandling of funds. sneaky slick escrow agents alpha