BAD LAWYER DID A LOT OF BAD STUFF IN TOO FEW YEARS

From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Bronx accident lawyer)

First Dept.

Admitted to Bar: 2001

Discipline imposed: Attorney resigned from (quit) the bar, giving up his law license; his resignation accepted by the Court on 2/18/2010 nunc pro tunc (retroactive) to 11/30/2009.

This naughty lawyer case starts with juicy press coverage and an FBI press release on October 15, 2009.

FBI "Operation Bad Deeds" charged 41 defendants in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina - including six lawyers, three mortgage brokers, and seven loan officers - with fraudulently obtaining $64 million in home mortgages on more than 100 properties in eight separate cases.

Attorney Roy was only named in one of the cases: United States v. Danny Siony, et al. In Siony, four defendants were charged in a twelve-count indictment involving over $6.8 million in allegedly fraudulent home mortgage loans obtained through a mortgage brokerage firm called Joshua Funding Corp.

Lawyer Roy and others allegedly recruited "straw" (fake) buyers for properties won at foreclosure and other types of auctions. Home mortgage loans were obtained by submitting falsified documents and earnings statements, and phony title reports and contracts of sale.

The criminal defendants told their lenders that a company controlled by one of the defendants. named Australian Open. was selling the properties to the straw buyers (at inflated prices), when Australian Open did not hold title to the properties at that time and, in most instances, never held title to the properties at all.

Once the defendants had obtained home mortgage loans for the straw buyers based on the inflated price, the loan proceeds were used to pay off the auction price, the properties transferred to the straw buyers, and the rest of the money split among the defendants.

Attorney Roy was paid to represent some of the straw buyers at New York real estate closings and obtained a power of attorney for at least one of the straw buyers he recruited to the scheme and signed documents on the straw buyer's behalf.

Layer Roy resigned his law license before he could be disbarred. The Appellate Division (higher court) noted:

In June 2009, the Departmental Disciplinary Committee charged respondent with 38 charges, covering six matters, including two unrelated real estate transactions in which he represented the seller. In the first real estate matter, respondent inflated the sale price to obtain a higher mortgage and pocketed the excess. In the second, he allegedly converted client escrow funds.

After his arrest, lawyer Roy tried to stop the attorney disciplinary process until the Federal prosecution against him ended, but he was denied.

After a disciplinary hearing on November 10, 2009, rather than face the lawyer disciplinary authorities, attorney Roy resigned.