Prison For Long Island Attorney Who Stole From Clients

MANHASSET, NY — A disbarred Long Island attorney who prosecutors said stole $675,000 from clients was sentenced Monday to one and a third to four years in prison.

Alfred DiGirolomo Jr., 65, of Manhasset, pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in April 2019 for stealing $225,000 from a client, and he was ordered to pay the money back, but he ended up stealing another $130,000 from a married couple that he represented in a workers’ compensation case in order to satisfy the earlier restitution order, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

DiGirolomo, who deposited the couple’s $650,000 settlement check in his business account, ended up drawing their funds down to about $800, she said. In another instance, he stole about $225,000 from another client by arranging a fake $100,000 loan for the married couple and pocketing $125,000 in a real estate deal, she said.

It is alleged that DiGirolomo used the money for credit card payments, utilities, gasoline, automobiles, home furnishings, a gym, business expenses and restaurants, Singas said.

He pleaded guilty in December to three counts of second-degree grand larceny in satisfaction of the charges for stealing from his clients and Judge Teresa Corrigan has ordered him to pay back the stolen $675,000 as restitution, Singas’ office said.

DiGirolomo was disbarred, meaning he is prevented from practicing law, in April 2019 because of his original felony plea, Singas said. In his original case, DiGirolomo used the stolen funds to pay for expenses related to a cigar club and a country club that he was a part of, as well as other personal expenses, she said.

“Alfred DiGirolomo swindled multiple clients to pay for country club dues and cigars, and in one case, stole from one client to repay another victim,” Singas said. “My office has prosecuted more than 25 attorneys for criminally victimizing their clients, and this defendant’s case should send a strong message to all lawyers that betraying their clients can come with a heavy price.”

Singas said that in February 2016, DiGirolomo “fraudulently coordinated” a loan agreement between two clients. The agreement was for a married couple to obtain a $100,000 loan with interest as an advance of a legal settlement in a workers’ compensation case from another one of his clients, Singas said. He made the agreement without the couple’s knowledge of the arrangement, she said.

DiGirolomo then told his second client, who was arranging the loan, that at the successful conclusion of the workers’ compensation case, the married couple planned to repay the loan with interest, Singas said. He allegedly forged the husband’s signature on the agreement and $100,000 was paid by the second client into DiGirolomo’s business account, she said.

But the married couple never received any of the money from DiGirolomo, according to Singas.

In October 2018, DiGirolomo stole more money — $125,000 — in a real estate transaction from the second client, Singas said. In that instance, he allegedly received a $125,000 down payment intended for the client in mid-October, but by the end of the month, DiGirolomo “had spent the money for his own purposes and the account had a zero balance,” she said.

All together he took $225,000 from his second client, Singas’ office said.

In June 2019, DiGirolomo received a $650,000 settlement check in connection with the married couple’s workers’ compensation case and he signed their names on the check – without their consent – and then deposited it into one of his business accounts, Singas said. He then used part of the money to pay restitution, she said.

DiGirolomo was only entitled to 30 percent of the client’s settlement, which is about $195,000, as well as $5,000 in trial-related expenses, according to his agreement with them, Singas said. Under the agreement, the couple was owed about $450,000 from the settlement, her office said.

DiGirolomo’s attorney, Robert Del Col of Bay Shore, described him as a “good man who made some poor decisions.”

“He became tangled up with some disreputable clients and unfortunately engaged in impermissible self-help that, in the end, proved to be a life-altering mistake,” Del Col wrote in an email. “As a criminal defense practitioner for over 30 years , he's the most sympathetic client I've ever represented.”