ADA Fraud Draws Automatic Disbarment

An attorney’s mail fraud conviction has led to his automatic disbarment by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department

During the respondent’s plea allocution he admitted that, between 2016 and 2019, he filed fraudulent lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (hereinafter ADA), in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, involving ten or more victims. The individuals on whose purported behalf the fraudulent lawsuits were filed did not in fact suffer any injury, but the respondent nonetheless sought to obtain money from the defendants in the form of legal fees and repairs to comply with the ADA. Judge Gardephe determined that the total amount of money lost was between $1.5 and $3.5 million.

Under the circumstances of this case, we conclude that the criminal conduct underlying the respondent’s conviction of mail fraud, in violation of 18 USC § 1341, is essentially similar to the New York felony of scheme to defraud in the first degree, in violation of Penal Law § 190.65(1)(a), a class E felony (see Matter of Constantine, 218 AD3d 42). By virtue of his federal felony conviction, the respondent was automatically disbarred and ceased to be an attorney pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(4)(a).

A press release from the United states Attorney for the Southern District of New York

According to the Indictment and statements made in court filings:

Over the course of six years, FINKELSTEIN filed or caused to be filed nearly 300 fraudulent lawsuits under the ADA.  These lawsuits, which were filed in Florida and New York, falsely claimed that the purported plaintiffs (“Victim-1” and “Victim-2”) had authorized the lawsuits and had standing to sue.  In reality, Victim-1 and Victim-2 had no idea that FINKELSTEIN had filed lawsuits on their behalf.   As a result of FINKELSTEIN’s false representations, FINKELSTEIN caused losses to the places of public accommodation that he sued in excess of $1,500,000 and netted nearly $650,000 for himself.  In addition to stealing identities and using the ADA as a vehicle for fraud, FINKELSTEIN made false statements to the courts under oath and sought to obstruct proceedings that could have exposed his scheme.

(Mike Frisch)