07-24-2007

MINEOLA – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced this morning the arrests of two attorneys in connection with separate thefts of more than $900,000. Barry Chasky, 54, of Point Lookout, has been charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, after allegedly embezzling nearly $900,000 from the escrow accounts of First American Title Insurance Company. In a separate case, Joseph Corrado, 48, of Pleasantville, has also been charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, in connection with an alleged theft from the escrow account of a Garden City client who hired the defendant to negotiate a loan refinancing.

Both men will be arraigned later today in First District Court, Hempstead. Mr. Chasky and Mr. Corrado face maximum sentences of 15 and seven years in prison, respectively, if convicted of the charges.

“Attorneys have more than just a professional responsibility to represent their clients’ interests,” said Rice. “These are professionals working in a position of trust, very often for clients who are not familiar with the law and may be going through an incredibly difficult episode in their lives. We will be very aggressive in going after professionals violating this trust and preying upon the vulnerabilities of their clients.”

Barry Chasky is the sole proprietor of Triad Abstract Company (Triad). Triad is an agent of First American Title Insurance Company (First American).

First American is regulated by New York State and is therefore mandated to audit Triad’s accounts on a yearly basis. In December of 2006, the First American auditor, along with his assistants, went to the Triad offices to perform an investigative audit. The auditors began reviewing the files and documents relating to Triad’s work for First American. As the audit commenced, they discovered that since the last yearly audit in January of 2006, Mr. Chasky failed to record many documents. According to First American, this is a serious violation of not only the Agency contracts, but also Triad’s and Ms. Chasky’s fiduciary duty to the insured clients. Knowing that the audit team was about to review all of Triad’s bank records, Mr. Chasky admitted that he had converted funds from Triad’s accounts to a friend and therefore the money was not in the escrow account and not available for transfer to First American.

The money was taken out in a series of checks starting December 1, 2005 and ending October 4, 2006. There were 17 checks written out in varying amounts from $30,000.00 to $100,000.00, totaling a loss of $880,000.00 to First American.

Joseph Corrado was hired in January 2005 to negotiate a loan modification for a Garden City homeowner who had stopped paying his mortgage bill in 2002. The homeowner gave Mr. Corrado a total of $35,000.00 to hold in escrow during the negotiations. Bank One, the mortgagor of the property, foreclosed on the home and it was ultimately sold at auction July 19, 2006. Mr. Corrado is alleged to have pocketed the money, doing little more than filing a notice of appeal during the process. To date, Mr. Corrado has returned only $4,000, creating a financial loss of $31,000 to the client.

Assistant District Attorney Vickie Curran, of the District Attorney’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau, is handling the cases for the District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Chasky is being represented by Randy Zelin, Esq., while Mr. Corrado is being represented by Christopher Graziano, Esq.

The charges described above are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

DA Files Charges against Two Lawyers

In separate cases, attorneys accused of stealing more than $900k