AG takes steps to collect $318,453 from disbarred White Plains lawyer

Attorney General Letitia James is asking Westchester Supreme Court to renew restitution judgments against a former White Plains lawyer who was disbarred for defrauding clients.

The Office of Attorney General summoned Kevin Hymes, 51, on April 23 to respond to its request to renew judgments from 2013 totaling $318,453, on behalf of the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection.

Hymes, 51, of Delray Beach, Florida, was disbarred in 2012 when he lived in Armonk and practiced law in White Plains.

From 2004 to 2009, he participated in a $66 million mortgage fraud scheme on Long Island, according to federal court records, when he operated under the name Kevin Hymowitz.

He pleaded guilty Manhattan federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. In 2013 he was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $7.6 million and pay restitution of $837,092.

From 2007 to 2012, Hymes stole about $1.5 million from clients by making false representations in real estate transactions, according to a press release issued in 2013 by former Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore. He pleaded guilty to four counts of grand larceny and a scheme to defraud.

The Westchester court issued restitution judgments to two former clients, Jeffrey Matias, of Towaco, New Jersey, for $247,757, and Robert Faller, of White Plains, for $70,697.

The Lawyers’ Fund was established to reimburse losses caused by dishonest lawyers, so as to promote public confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession.

The Fund reimbursed Matias and Faller. Then they assigned their court judgments to the Fund for collection. The assignments were recorded in 2015.

Hymes, according to a memorandum of law filed by Assistant Attorney General Kathryn J. Blake, has paid back nothing.

She explained that money judgments are enforceable for 20 years but a lien on real estate expires after 10 years unless renewed.

The Lawyers’ Fund, according to an affidavit by Executive Director Michael J. Knight Sr., wants to renew the restitution judgements so that it can place a lien against any real estate that Hymes owns, or comes to own, in New York.

Though the face amounts of the judgments total $318,453, the state is also asking for 9% interest per going back to April 2014. If paid now, that works out to about $435,441 in interest and a total of $753,894.