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The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced last month the arrest and indictment of Marc A. Bernstein for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree as well a other charges for an alleged scheme where he stole over $600,000 from client escrow accounts. Well, unfortunately for Mr. Bernstein, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced once again that he had been re-arrested (he was out of custody on $250,000 bail) and charged with multiple counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree for stealing $1,500,000 from five clients’ escrow accounts. In total, the alleged theft is approximately $2,200,000.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office:

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It seems like every day you open the newspaper some crew or group of individuals is either being arrested, investigated or indicted for Enterprise Corruption in New York City. Well, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the indictment of 12 people and 9 corporations for Enterprise Corruption and other crimes. According to the Attorney General “The Levy Enterprise” paid hospital employees for confidential patient information, lured patients into receiving unnecessary treatment, and then submitted over a million dollars in phony personal injury claims to insurance carriers.

The 147 count indictment unsealed yesterday charges Daniel Levy, Dr. Hoi Yat Kam, Alex Levy, Desmond Connell, Daniel G. Madrid, Ronald J. Schwartz, Dr. Salvatore Lentini, Yan Yan Yu, Dr. Haroutyoun Tiikranian, Lai Fan Xue, Cheng He, and Dr. Aleksandra Gashinskaya, in varying capacities with Enterprise Corruption, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, Money Laundering in the Second Degree, Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and other charges. These men and women, some of whom are doctors and lawyers, face not only the potential sentence of 25 years in prison on the Enterprise Corruption and 4 years on the “lesser” charge of Falsifying Business Records, but also face the real risk of being disbarred from their particular practice areas. Mary Jimenez and Lloyd Modeste, both hospital employees, were charged with Bribe Receiving on a separate complaint, but do not appear to have been indicted by the Grand Jury.

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Saland Law PC a top white collar criminal defense firm, has learned that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has announced the indictment of thirteen individuals and a mortgage company in connection to a mortgage fraud scheme allegedly perpetrated in the New York City region over the past four years. Charged with Enterprise Corruption (PL 460.20), Grand Larceny in the First and Second Degrees (PL 155.42 and PL 155.40), Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (PL 190.65) and Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree (PL 105.05), it is alleged that:

AFG Financial Group, Eugene Culbreath, Eric Shields, Matthew McDermott, Marc Zirogiannis, Kenneth Law, Kathleen Scanlon, Jerry Strklja, Marilyn Mateo, Darlita Bostic, Allyson Hinds, and Rajmohan Autar, in varying roles, “…located distressed residential real estate properties in New York City and surrounding counties. They then engaged in a fraudulent scheme to steal millions of dollars from lending banks in Manhattan and elsewhere using sham sales of those properties. The conspirators caused the banks to front millions of dollars to finance purchases of the properties. They then walked away with most of the cash, leaving behind over-valued properties and worthless mortgage papers.” The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office further claims that recruiters found straw buyers who would be paid to enter into a real estate transaction where they were informed that the true homeowner would benefit from they service. Moreover, the straw buyers were told they would receive further compensation. After the mortgages and transactions were completed, the straw buyers did not receive any compensation and were left with possession of the mortgages which they could not pay. As a result, not only did the straw buyers lose money, but their credit went drastically south.

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It comes in different shapes and sizes – DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence) – but regardless of the particular offense in New York (both NYC and Westchester), prosecutors and judges take these charges very seriously. As a former Manhattan prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney at Saland Law PC, I have handled countless DWIs, DWAIs and DUIs whether they are charged as VTL 1192.1, VTL 1192.2, VTL 1192.2-a or VTL 1192.3. One particular question that I have heard asked in various forms is “how can I be charged with DWI if there is no breathalyzer or intoxilizer that indicates how much alcohol I had in my system?” The answer to this question is quite simple. As we call it in the criminal law field, a DWI without a chemical test result and one based on an officer’s observation is “Common Law” DWI.

Unlike VTL 1192.2 which requires a reading of alcohol in a person’s blood to be .08 of one per centum or more, a person is guilty of Driving While Intoxicated pursuant to “Common Law” VTL 1192.3 if they operate a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated condition. Well, if there is no reading or analysis, what does law enforcement hang it’s hat on to establish this crime? Very often the police cite certain characteristics of the accused across the board. The officers claim that that the accused had “water bloodshot eyes,” “slurred speech,” “the smell of alcohol on their breath,” and they were “unsteady.” Maybe the police allege that a person was asleep at the wheel, was driving erratically, or even threw up on themselves. One of the easiest ways they establish your lack of sobriety is based on the boneheaded mistake that people of all walks of life make when confronted by the police regardless of the accusation. That is, they make an admission. Something as simple as “I only had a few (or couple) of beers.” Well, if you didn’t present any of the characteristics mentioned above, but you stated you had a couple of beers, you probably just bought yourself a trip to the precinct and ultimately before a judge.

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The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the indictment earlier today of Mark A. Focht, the former Chief Operating Officer of 3V Capital Management LLC. It is alleged that Mr. Focht perpetrated the white collar crime of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (PL 155.40) by stealing $250,000 from one of the funds that he managed. He is also charged with Forgery in the Second Degree (PL 170.10) and Falsifying Business Records (PL 175.10) in the First Degree for allegedly creating forged documents to both execute his thefts and to cover them up once he was done.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s press release:

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Elizabeth Crotty, an attorney at the New York City and Manhattan based white collar criminal defense firm Saland Law PC, was interviewed earlier today for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. As a former Manhattan prosecutor and a white collar criminal defense lawyer in New York, Ms. Crotty explained where she believed the Madoff case was heading after the sentencing of Mr. Madoff. Specifically, Ms. Crotty was asked about future indictments of other participants in Mr. Madoff’s ponzi scheme. While Ms. Crotty is certainly not privy to the United State’s Attorney’s investigation, Ms. Crotty explained that assuming there are future indictments we should not expect to see those indictments for at least another six months. Ms. Crotty further stated that due to the magnitude of the case and the investigation, prosecutors still likely have many stones to overturn and a significant amount of work ahead of them to pursue other potential conspirators.

If you or a loved one is in need of legal representation and a criminal defense attorney for a white collar crime, contact the former Manhattan prosecutors at Saland Law PC. Whatever your best defense may be, Jeremy Saland and Elizabeth Crotty will take the time to address your concerns, explain the legal process and implement what is needed to zealously defend your liberty, integrity and future.

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It is fairly routine to read or hear about a NY criminal defense attorney representing an individual accused of a particular White Collar crime due to the conduct of the corporation he or she works for. It is not merely the United States Attorney’s Office who prosecutes these crimes, but state and local offices such as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that aggressively pursue these cases and crimes ranging from Grand Larceny and Falsifying Business Records to Scheme to Defraud and Money Laundering. The power of New York State and local prosecutors to charge individuals with crimes based on corporate conduct is found in Penal Law 20.25. According to this section, “[a] person is criminally liable for conduct constituting an offense which he performs or causes to be performed in the name of or in behalf of a corporation to the same extent as if such conduct were performed in his own name of behalf.”

Decisions rendered by the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, further fortifies the ability of state and local prosecutors. In People v. Sakow, 45 N.Y.2d 131 (1978), the Court of Appeals found that a “defendant could properly be held criminally liable for violation of city administrative code based on his willful neglect and refusal to comply with violation orders issued by fire department where there was adequate proof from which it could be inferred that defendant was the active manager and dominant controlling force in corporations, in each of which he was principal and, at times, sole shareholder, and for which he acted in the absence of minutes and without a meeting of the board of directors.”

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According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Joseph Ungar, CEO of ABEC Industries, Inc., pleaded guilty yesterday to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree in New York County Supreme Court after an investigation revealed he had sold knock off industrial parts to the MTA. Mr. Unger also pleaded guilty to a crime related to his failure to properly pay taxes associated with his business. The ABEC Industries, Inc. also pleaded guilty to Identity Theft and Trademark Counterfeiting.

As a result of Mr. Ungar’s plea, he will make full restitution of over $125,000 for the scheme. Additionally, he will be given a lifetime debarment from doing business with the MTA and serve five-years of probation. Mr. Unger must also pay over $200,000 in back taxes. If Mr. Unger fails to comply with the terms of his plea he will not be sentenced to probation, but instead could receive two to six years in state prison.

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Rape, Sexual Abuse, Assault, Forcible Touching and Grand Larceny are a few of the charges Joseph Brooks, 71, faces today after the indictment against him was unsealed. Shawni Lucier, 42, Mr. Brook’s assistant, was indicted on nine counts of Criminal Facilitation for her alleged role in the crimes. As Saland Law PC recently blogged, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Brooks allegedly raped and sexually assaulted eleven women in his upper east side apartment. It is further claimed that his personal assistant, Ms. Lucier facilitated the sexual assault of nine of these woman. Mr. Brooks had turned himself in on the charges, but Ms. Lucier will do so next week.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Brooks engaged in this conduct from a period between March of 2005 through April of 2008. The women, as young as 18 and as old as 30, went voluntarily to Mr. Brook’s apartment believing they were auditioning for an acting role. Prosecutors claim that Mr. Brooks flew many of these women into New York from as far as Washington State and Florida after they learned of the potential acting gigs on Craigslist. Once Mr. Brooks got the women into his apartment, however, they quickly learned there was no role to be had.

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