Crimes Draw Disbarment

The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department disbarred an attorney convicted of crimes and disbarred in New Jersey

Respondent was admitted to practice by this Court in 2001 following his 2000 admission in his home state of New Jersey. In March 2019, respondent pleaded guilty in New Jersey to two counts of an indictment, specifically to third-degree conspiracy (see New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice § 2C:5-2) and third-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property (see New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice § 2C:20-9), stemming from respondent’s involvement in an investment fraud scheme with George Bussanich Sr., George Bussanich Jr. and Wilma Bussanich. Respondent was thereafter sentenced to a noncustodial term of probation and restitution, and later consented to his disbarment by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Particulars

Respondent’s plea allocution establishes that he received approximately $3 million that belonged to investors, and aided the Bussaniches in the solicitation and theft of those funds by dispersing the funds to limited liability corporations he created and which were ultimately controlled by the Bussaniches. Moreover, respondent’s plea further reveals that he engaged in such conduct knowing that the Bussaniches were prohibited by a court order from soliciting or accepting investor funds themselves. As such, we conclude that the object of respondent’s conspiracy with the Bussaniches constitutes grand larceny in the first degree, a class B felony, which contains the element of theft of property valued at more than $1 million (see Penal Law § 155.42), and that respondent’s conviction of third- degree conspiracy in New Jersey is therefore a proper factual predicate for automatic disbarment pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90 (4) (a).

We also find that respondent’s New Jersey conviction for third-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property is essentially similar to New York’s felony of grand larceny in the second degree.

A press release from the New Jersey Attorney General on the sentencing of co-defendants

“Justice demanded that this father and son face substantial prison sentences for their crimes,” said Attorney General Grewal. “It was bad enough that they stole the life savings of elderly investors to bankroll their own expensive homes, cars and entertainment, but they did not stop there. Instead, they defrauded many of the same retirees a second time after the first scheme was exposed, playing on their desperation to recover their lost savings.”

“These defendants perpetrated a classic Ponzi scheme in which they used a small fraction of the invested funds to pay investors purported ‘dividends’ or ‘returns’ and conceal that they were diverting most of the funds for their personal use,” said Director Veronica Allende of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We will continue to work with the Bureau of Securities to investigate and aggressively prosecute any dishonest operators who defraud New Jersey investors and deprive them of their hard-earned savings.”

The wife/mother got probation and community service.

NJ.com also noted the sentencing

To make the investments appear profitable, the family made “dividend payments” from the initial money they collected from investors.

(Mike Frisch)