Fake NY Lawyer Cops Plea To Swindling Two Out Of $200K In Home Sale Proceeds; Failure To Pay Existing Mortgage Leads To Foreclosure Notice

In New York City, the Staten Island Advance reports:

• A West Brighton man who bilked his girlfriend's family and an acquaintance of almost $200,000 by pretending to be a lawyer now faces real consequences: Up to eight years in prison. Renauld A. Gregg, 29, pleaded guilty yesterday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to three felony counts of grand larceny stemming from two separate incidents.

• Gregg was charged in July with swindling $156,877 from an acquaintance by keeping the proceeds from the sale of her Stapleton home. [...] He was successful with the sale in 2007, police say, but didn't use the cash to pay off Ms. White's mortgage, instead keeping it for himself, prosecutors said. Ms. White discovered her home had been sold when she received a notice of foreclosure, said William J. Smith, spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan. The lender stopped foreclosure proceedings after learning Ms. White had been victimized.

• Gregg also persuaded his girlfriend and her family to let him represent them in a real-estate deal on May 23 of last year. [...] He bilked the unwitting victims of $31,100, then wired his ill-gotten gains to the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City to pay off gambling debts, prosecutors said.

For more, see Man who pretended to be lawyer faces up to 8 years in prison (West Brighton resident bilked his girlfriend's family and an acquaintance of almost $200,000).