Edmundo Roman-Perez, 71, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, an attorney has been sentenced today to 1 to 3 years in prison for stealing approximately $280,000 in down payments he received to hold in escrow from two clients he represented in the sale of their homes. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny in December 2020.
According to the investigation, in late 2018, a couple hired the defendant to represent them in the sale of their two-family, Sunset Park, Brooklyn home. The home sold for $1,350,000 and the defendant received a $135,000 down payment from the buyers that he should have held in his attorney escrow account until the date of closing, when the funds should have been released to his clients. Instead, the defendant used the money for his own benefit. After closing in March 2019, the defendant issued checks to his clients purporting to cover the $135,000 owed, which bounced upon deposit. The defendant failed to disburse the funds he owed to his clients.
Similarly, between November 2018 and April 2019, the defendant represented three brothers in the sale of their two-family home in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. The home sold for $1,500,000 and the defendant received a $150,000 down payment from the buyers that he should have held in his attorney escrow account until closing, when he should have released the money to his clients. Instead, the defendant again used the money for his own benefit, and issued the brothers checks purporting to cover the funds owed to each of them. The checks bounced and the defendant failed to distribute the funds he owed to the brothers.
Additionally, the defendant was under indictment in Richmond County related to allegations that he stole client funds. In November 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree grand larceny and received a sentence of 1 to 3 years in prison. The Brooklyn and Staten Island sentences will run concurrently.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez made the announcement.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for the serious breach of trust and financial hardship he caused his victims. Let this serve as a reminder that I am committed to protecting Brooklyn’s residents from attorneys and other unscrupulous fraudsters who abuse their positions of authority to take advantage of those they are entrusted to advise and represent.”
The case was investigated by Supervising Financial Investigator Deborah Wey of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Katherine Zdrojeski of the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Laura Neubauer, Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
