Articles Posted in White Collar Crimes

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has painted a very bad picture of Lawrence Salander, Leigh Morse and the Salander O’Reilly Galleries after they obtained a second indictment in connection with Mr. Salander’s alleged theft from and defrauding of the estates of numerous artists.

As I previously noted in the first two blog entries, Mr. Salander has already been arrested and indicted in connection to an 88 million dollar fraud. This second offense involves the alleged theft of an additional 5 million dollars from numerous estates. These estates had given their works of art to Mr. Salander and his gallery so that they could be sold or exhibited.

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Saland Law PC has learned that Lawrence Salander, the famous owner of a well know art gallery in Manhattan that was recently closed, faces new charges in association with an 88 million dollar fraud scheme. A Manhattan Grand Jury has already indicted Mr. Salander for Grand Larceny in the First Degree, Securities Fraud, Falsifying Business Records, Forgery and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument. Although it is unclear whether the new indictment is for separate and distinct crimes or for activities associated with the first indictment, Mr. Salander faces up to twenty five years in the first case. He is due back in Manhattan Supreme Court before Judge Obus on July 31, 2009.

The former Manhattan prosecutors and New York criminal defense attorneys at Saland Law PC will keep you informed as we learn more.

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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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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.

Thirty New York state employees from Albany to New York City have been arrested and charged with unemployment fraud after they allegedly claimed unemployment benefits while actually working for the state. According to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the thirty defendants are charged with some variation of the crimes of Grand Larceny in the Third and Fourth Degrees, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Petit Larceny. As a former Manhattan prosecutor and a New York white collar criminal defense attorney at Saland Law PC, I can confidently say that the Attorney General’s Office is going to send a loud and clear message to the public that unemployment fraud will not be tolerated at any level.

According to Attorney General Cuomo:

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