Nassau County DA: Attorney Held $25K Of Clients' Home Sale Proceeds In Escrow Pending Receipt & Recording Of Mortgage Satisfactions; He Never Obtained Documents & Pocketed His Clients' Cash Instead

From the Office of the Nassau County, New York District Attorney:

• Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced the arrest of a disbarred attorney yesterday who is accused of stealing $25,000 from clients he was representing in the sale of their home.(1)
  
  Timothy Daly, 53, of Hempstead, was arrested and charged with grand larceny in the third degree (a class D felony). If convicted, he faces up to 2-1/3 to 7 years in prison. He is due back in court on September 16 and was released on his own recognizance.
  
  “Attorneys have a special obligation to act in the best interests of their clients,” said DA Singas. “This defendant is charged with stealing from clients who entrusted him with their home purchase and using their money to pay his rent and line his pockets. My office is committed to holding him accountable.”
  
  DA Singas said Daly was hired by the complainants to represent them in the sale of their residence in Queens. On the day of closing in August 2011, Daly agreed in writing to hold in escrow $25,000 of the sale proceeds until he sent two original satisfactions of existing mortgages to the title company for recording. Daly, however, allegedly failed to obtain the satisfactions and his clients never received the money owed to them.
  
  The NCDA began investigating the case in June 2016 when the complainants, who had to obtain the satisfactions of mortgage on their own, filed a complaint.
  
  Daly was disbarred by the Appellate Division, Second Department, on July 24, 2013 for professional misconduct unrelated to this matter.

Source: Disbarred Attorney Arrested for Stealing $25,000 from Clients (Timothy Daly, 53, Allegedly Used Homebuyers’ Escrow Funds to Pay His Rent).

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(1) The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York manages and distributes money collected from annual dues paid by members of the state bar to members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by the dishonest conduct of a member of the New York bar acting as an attorney or a fiduciary.

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

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes a listing for Canadian client protection funds, 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.