The entrance to the The New York County District Attorney’s office at 1 Hogan Spot is observed in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – New York true estate attorney Mitchell Kossoff on Monday pleaded responsible to charges of grand larceny soon after prosecutors accused him of stealing tens of millions of dollars in customer cash.

Manhattan District Legal professional Cyrus Vance stated in a assertion that Kossoff, 68, will be sentenced in April and could provide a jail phrase of 4-1/2 to 13-1/2 a long time. Kossoff misappropriated much more than $14.6 million from at the very least 35 men and women and providers, Vance claimed.

“In get to finance his own business and way of life, Mitchell Kossoff stole big sums of income that belonged to people who trusted him,” Vance reported in a assertion. “Now, he will provide a considerable sentence.”

The New York County Supreme Courtroom will purchase Kossoff to repay his victims extra than $14.6 million, and to surrender his Highlands, New Jersey condominium, Vance claimed.

Walter Mack, Kossoff’s legal defense lawyer, did not reaction to a request for remark.

Kossoff pleaded responsible to rates of grand larceny in the initial, 2nd and 3rd levels, and scheming to defraud in the 1st degree. A prison grievance towards him produced community before this month explained Kossoff took shopper money totaling $2.76 million from his firm’s escrow accounts.

Prosecutors reported Kossoff, the moment a fixture of the New York genuine estate market place, began transferring funds from his clients’ accounts in December 2017, working with the dollars to aid an additional relatives business and own expenses. That included investing an typical of $16,000 regular on particular credit history card payments and$19,000 a thirty day period to hire a Manhattan luxury condominium.

Occasionally, he would use a person client’s cash to spend an additional, prosecutors said. Kossoff’s consumers contacted regulation enforcement following several of them recognized in March that he owed them dollars, prosecutors claimed.

Kossoff’s law business, Kossoff PLLC, was pressured into bankruptcy in May possibly just after clientele claimed it had misappropriated far more than $8 million from its escrow accounts.

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