Bronxville lawyer pleads guilty to cemetery embezzlement
Bronxville real estate attorney Timothy Griffin faces a prison sentence of 3 to 9 years after pleading guilty this week to grand larceny in the theft of nearly $2 million from a Jewish cemetery association on Staten Island.
The embezzled funds were transferred to the Westchester attorney”™s escrow account for real estate clients, whose deposits Griffin was moving to a personal bank account to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included a Waccabuc Country Club membership and purchases of BMW and Lexus vehicles and expensive jewelry, according to investigators from the state attorney general”™s office.
Griffin”™s alleged thefts from his law practice occurred over a nearly five-year period that ended last February and amounted to more than $1 million, investigators said. He has been charged with seven counts of grand larceny in that case. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, when announcing Griffin”™s guilty plea in the Staten Island case on Wednesday, said the attorney is expected to plead guilty to those charges in Westchester County Court on Feb. 19.
A resident of Ridgefield, Conn., Griffin in January was sentenced to six months in federal prison for income tax fraud by a U.S. District Court judge in Bridgeport. Griffin last fall admitted in federal court that he failed to report approximately $272,000 in income from his law practice in 2004, evading approximately $71,000 in owed taxes.
On Staten Island, Griffin in late 2012 was named acting president of United Hebrew Cemetery after the cemetery association”™s previous president and his wife were convicted of embezzling approximately $850,000 from the nonprofit. In his new post, Griffin made six unauthorized wire transfers from the cemetery”™s account to his attorney escrow account that totaled $1.9 million, according to state investigators.
“This defendant not only stole from the clients of his law practice, but then stole millions from his charity in an attempt to disguise that theft,” Schneiderman said. “If you use a charity as your own personal piggy bank, you will face serious consequences, including jail time.”
Griffin pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court in Richmond County to one count of first-degree grand larceny in exchange for a sentence of 3 to 9 years in prison. The attorney also agreed to sign a confession of judgment in favor of United Hebrew Cemetery in the amount of $1,832,764, according to the attorney general”™s office.