$350K In Pilfered Proceeds From Client Home Sales Leaves Lawyer Facing Prison; 1-Year Buy-Down Sentence Reduction To Cost $169K In Upfront Restitution

In White Plains, New York, The Journal News reports:

• A former real estate lawyer who operated out of Yonkers will go to prison after admitting that he stole more than $350,000 by pilfering checks given to him by well-to-do clients.
• Bruce Mogavero, an Eastchester resident, pleaded guilty Friday in Westchester County Court in White Plains to two felony counts of second-degree grand larceny and one of first-degree scheme to defraud.
• His prison term will depend on how much he can repay when he is sentenced. If he makes a lump-sum payment of $169,350, he would be sentenced to one to three years. If he cannot pay that amount, he would serve two to four years, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. He will eventually have to repay all the money, and is to be sentenced Oct. 25.
• According to prosecutors, Mogavero stole $270,000 between August 2008 and April 2010. The money came from proceeds of a house sale on Oakland Avenue in Tuckahoe. Mogavero had deposited a $455,000 check into an escrow account until the sellers reached a divorce settlement, but he dipped into the account for his own use.
• Mogavero also stole $82,700 from a client selling an apartment on Bronx River Road in Yonkers. Mogavero was accused of stealing money from nine other clients from 2008 to Jan. 1 of this year.
• In an interview with The Journal News last year, Mogavero, 55, said he borrowed the money so he could keep his business afloat to help struggling homeowners fight foreclosure. He said he helped more than 200 people stay in their homes, and had already repaid some money.(1)

Source: Lawyer who stole $350,000 from clients must pay -- with prison time and cash.

(1) To the extent Mogavero fails to cough up the restitution cash, The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York exists to protect legal consumers from dishonest conduct in the practice of law in the state, to preserve the integrity of the bar, to safeguard the good name of lawyers for their honesty in handling client money, and to promote public confidence in the administration of justice in the Empire State. It attempts to secure these goals by, among other things, reimbursing client money that is misused in the practice of law.

For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that cover the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.