$20M+ Escrow / Check Kiting Scam Lands NY Attorney Ten Year Prison Sentence

In Westchester County, New York, The Journal News reports:

• Anthony Bellettieri thought he could make the numbers add up. The Harrison real estate lawyer played the float between his firm's two accounts, writing checks in an amount that gave the appearance that the more than $20 million he stole was still there. He gambled he could beat the system. But there was one number Bellettieri didn't take into account in the scheme: 60. That's how many victims have come forward to say they lost the money they entrusted to Bellettieri, money that turned up gone when the scheme went belly up.

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• One of Bellettieri's victims sat with more than 20 friends and family members during the sentencing. Another victim, 81-year-old Michael Williams of Harrison, also was in court. He lost $200,000 he was supposed to get when he refinanced his home to help his grandson buy a house. His daughter, Deborah Annunziata, told [Federal District Court Judge Charles] Brieant the theft has had a terrible impact on her family. "We're just devastated by all this," she said.

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• Bellettieri took advantage of a printing mistake on checks issued to the firm for two accounts, one of which was a funding account, the other an escrow account. Money was supposed to be released from the escrow account to the funding account for closings. As one account was credited, the other was supposed to be debited, making for a zero-sum transaction. But the printing mistake caused a two-day hiccup in the debiting, giving the appearance that the accounts were flush when they were actually empty. Bellettieri wrote $15 million to $18 million worth of checks daily to keep up that appearance, according to the suit.

For more, see White Plains real estate lawyer gets 10 years for $22 million fraud.

See also, Real estate lawyer gets 10 years for fraud (Mid-Hudson News).

For other posts on theft of escrow money, go here and go here. sneaky slick escrow agents beta