West Hempstead lawyer sentenced to three to nine years in prison

Frankel stole $6 million for personal investments

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West Hempstead real estate attorney David Frankel, who pleaded guilty in January to stealing nearly $6 million from his clients, was sentenced to three to nine years in prison on April 24 in Nassau County Supreme Court.

Frankel must also pay restitution to his former clients for the millions he illegally accessed and invested between September 2012 and February 2014.

“Within days of receiving $5.7 million of his clients’ money to hold in escrow, this unscrupulous lawyer began stealing the funds, spending nearly all of it for his own personal purposes,” said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Frankel had represented seven realty companies with overlapping ownership in eight Brooklyn properties. The properties were refinanced and $5.7 million was placed in an escrow account. Several days after the money was deposited, Frankel began using it to fund his own unsuccessful investments and make payments in unrelated real estate transactions. The account, in which other unrelated money was periodically deposited, was down to a balance of $836.81 by February 28, 2014.

Frankel was not authorized to use the funds for any purpose other than distributing them as instructed by the company.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s office was alerted to the allegations, and an investigation opened on December 29, 2015. Frankel was disbarred two months prior.

Frankel’s lawyer, Avraham Moskowitz, could not be reached for comment by press time.