Attorney Joseph Levine Arrested for Stealing from Clients

Joseph Levine, a 59-year-old recently disbarred attorney from Hewlett, Nassau County, New York is under arrest and has been charged with stealing in excess of $300,000 from two clients who he was supposed to be representing over the course of the past year. The charges against him are Second and Third Degree Grand Larceny and two counts of Second Degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Document

In evidence in the complaint states that in December of 2006, the defendant advised a resident of the Nassau County Village of Rockville Center to settle for $300,000 in relation to a personal injury lawsuit. Then on December 25, he visited the office of the insurance company in Pennsylvania and pressured them to issue a check because, according to him, the client had a daughter who needed the money to pay for heart surgery. They issued the check to the defendant in the name of his client. He then forged the signatures of both the client and her husband and proceeded to deposit the check into his bank account. The bank's records show that he did deposit $300,000 on December 28,2006.

By the time March rolled around, his bank account stood at -$139.44 and the clients never received any of their settlement money. The Nassau County's District Attorney's Office was notified on March 19, 2007.

Also, in May of 2007 a woman from the town of Elmont in Nassau County was buying a house and the real estate agent gave her a list of attorneys to select from and she choose Levine. She gave him $10,000 to hold as a down payment on the house, but the sale did not go through and she asked for the return of her money. Levine said he wanted to hold on to the money just in case he could resurrect the deal, She continued to keep in contact with him throughout the summer, but as of yet has not received a refund. The District Attorney received a complaint on September 12, 2007.

Levine filed an affidavit of resignation form the Bar on April 6, 2007 and he was disbarred on June 26,2007. If he is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Source: Nassau County DA http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/

Commentary: Levine had already quit as a lawyer in the face of allegations against him of theft, but kept acting as an attorney and stealing. He couldn’t have thought for even a second that he would get away with this. The whole story of why he did this remains to be told. Let him tell it from a prison cell, during a long incarceration.