Rockville Centre Attorney Charged with Stealing Thousands from Dead Client’s Estate

Rice: Post stole as much as $200K from estate he was managing

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Rockville Centre attorney has been charged with grand larceny after stealing as much as $200,000 from the estate of a man who died 16 years ago.

Joel Post, 58, was arrested this morning and charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. He faces up to 15 years if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned later today in First District Court, Hempstead.

Rice said that in 1997, Post was appointed co-administrator for the estate of a former New York man who died in France in 1993. Post’s responsibilities in this position included negotiating claims against the estate, collecting estate assets, and paying the estate’s federal and state estate and income taxes. Post set up an account in 2001 for the estate’s assets from which he would pay any taxes.

On September 29, 2005, Post reported depositing $286,000 into the account. In the Fall of 2006, however, Post’s co-administrator learned that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was claiming large arrearages. The co-administrator also learned that Post had also not paid payments to the IRS aside from one $50,000 payment in early 2006.

Post, after numerous demands made by his co-administrator, provided a document entitled “Transactions by Account,” which purportedly listed numerous deposits and payments made between March 6, 2001 and July 25, 2007. The document also listed a balance of more than $231,000.

When the co-administrator attempted to verify this information with the bank, however, he was told that the account had a balance of only $4. Investigators believe Post stole between $50,000 and $200,000 from the account.

“We believe that Mr. Post used the estate of an innocent deceased man to pad his own wallet,” Rice said. “My office will aggressively prosecute any attorney who abuses the trust their clients place in them. This defendant has betrayed his profession and the community of Rockville Centre, and that won’t be tolerated on my watch.”

Deputy Bureau Chief William Wallace of the Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau is handling the case for the DA’s Office. Post is represented by Peter Bongiorno, Esq.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.