Long Island Lawyer Gets 28 Months For Screwing Trust Beneficiaries Out Of $1.3+ Million He Filched While Acting As Trustee

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Central Islip, New York):

• David Bodian, a Long Island attorney, was sentenced at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, to 28 months in prison following his March 2016 guilty plea to wire fraud for stealing more than $1.3 million from a trust fund for which he was the trustee. [...] As part of the sentence, Bodian was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1.3 million to the Lou Bacon Trust.(1)
  
  According to court filings and facts presented at the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings, in approximately 2000, Bodian was appointed trustee of the Lou Bacon Trust, a trust fund that benefitted a number of individuals and charities. At the time of his appointment, the trust held over $1 million in total assets.
  
  In approximately 2005, Bodian began looting the fund of its assets to pay for his personal expenses, including a car, high-end audio equipment, home renovations, and international vacations.
  
  From approximately 2005 to 2015, he stole almost the entirety of the trust’s funds, leaving the trust with only $10,000 in cash. To perpetuate the scheme, Bodian lied to the beneficiaries about the amount of money in the trust bank accounts. For example, when a beneficiary asked for a copy of a trust bank statement, Bodian borrowed $150,000 from a friend to deposit in the trust’s account to inflate the trust’s assets. After providing a bank statement to the beneficiary that reflected the $150,000 Bodian had borrowed, he transferred the money back to his friend.
  
  The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorney Tyler Smith is in charge of the prosecution.

Source: Long Island Attorney Is Sentenced To 28 Months In Prison For Stealing $1.3 Million From Trust Fund Clients (Trust Funds Diverted to Pay for Car, High-End Stereo Equipment, Home Renovations and International Vacations).

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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.