$900K Real Estate Deposit Part Of $2.2M In Escrow Cash Ripped Off From Clients By NYC Attorney, Says Manhattan DA

From the Office of the Manhattan District Attorney:

• Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced [Wednesday] the second indictment charging a lawyer with stealing settlement and escrow monies from his clients. This second indictment charges the defendant with stealing more than $1.5 million from five clients. This follows a previous indictment that was unsealed on May 19, 2009 charging the defendant with stealing $652,600 from 11 medical malpractice and personal injury clients. The total amount the defendant is charged with stealing in both indictments is $2.2 million.

• MARC A. BERNSTEIN, 54, of Bernstein & Bernstein, LLP in Manhattan, was arrested [Wednesday] on charges of grand larceny and scheme to defraud. [...] The investigation leading to [the current] indictment, and the one preceding it, revealed that BERNSTEIN engaged in a scheme to steal from his victims, many of whom were affected by medical malpractice or injury suffered as a result of car accidents. In the typical case, BERNSTEIN negotiated a settlement on behalf of the victim, took control of the incoming settlement money and then stole it.

• In one instance that has now given rise to charges, Bernstein, acting as an escrow agent, received $900,000 in real estate deposit money on a contract of sale for the purchase of a building in lower Manhattan and stole that money from the intended purchaser of the property.(1)

Go here for the entire Manhattan DA press release.

Go here, Go here, Go here, Go here, and Go here for other stories of trust account / escrow account theft of funds.

(1) For those who have been screwed out of money or property through the dishonest conduct of a New York attorney in the course of providing legal representation, and seek some financial reimbursement for the screwing over, go to the The Lawyers’ Fund For Client Protection Of the State of New York for more information. For other states and Canada, see:

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