Steven Salami is also ordered to pay the full amount of stolen funds, back to the New Jersey Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, which had previously reimbursed his clients, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said.
From April to August 2019, while working as an attorney, Salami took $300,000 from four victims as part of real estate transactions, Santiago said. Salami put the money in escrow, but failed to do the work for which he was paid, Santiago said. These actions resulted in missed closing dates and nullified transactions for the victims, among other issues, Santiago said.
Salami was arrested in October 2019 but a further investigation uncovered dozens of additional victims, Santiago said. Salami then pleaded guilty to second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity last October, Santiago said.
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