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Manhasset resident Alfred DiGiolomo, Jr., age 65, was sentenced this week to a term of one and one-third to four years in prison after pleading guilty on Dec. 21, 2020, to three counts of grand larceny for defrauding his clients to pay off fees from a previous case.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said that DiGiolomo stole the $675,000 from two clients and pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in the second degree on April 4, 2019, for stealing nearly $230,000 from a separate client.
In addition to his prison time, DiGiolomo must also pay $680,000 in restitution to his victims.
Singas said that in February 2016, DiGiolomo fraudulently coordinated a funding agreement between two clients.
The agreement was for client one – a married couple in a federal workers’ compensation case – to obtain a $100,000 loan with interest from the second client, an agreement DiGiolomo never informed the married couple about.
DiGirolomo told the second client that at the successful conclusion of the workers’ compensation case, the married couple planned to repay the loan with interest.
Singas said that DiGirolomo allegedly forged the husband’s signature on an agreement and $100,000 was paid by the second client into his own business account. The married couple did not receive any of the money from DiGirolomo.
It is further alleged that in October 2018, DiGirolomo stole another $125,000 in a real estate transaction from the second client. In that instance, DiGirolomo allegedly received a $125,000 down payment intended for the client on October 10, 2018, and by October 31, 2018, DiGirolomo had spent the money for his own purposes and the account had a zero balance.
In June 2019, DiGirolomo received a $650,000 settlement check in connection with the workers’ compensation case involving the married couple.
DiGirolomo signed the couple’s name on the check – without their consent – and deposited it into one of his business accounts. According to the agreement between the couple and DiGirolomo, the attorney was entitled to 30 percent of the recovery – approximately $195,000 – and trial-related expenses of approximately $5,000.
However, DiGirolomo used $130,000 of that settlement check to complete restitution in the earlier case.
DiGirolomo was automatically disbarred and precluded from the practice of law because of his felony plea on April 4, 2019.
By November that year, the account, which started at $650,000 was down to approximately $800.
According to Singas, DiGirolomo used the stolen cash for credit card payments, utilities, gasoline, automobiles, home furnishings, a gym, business expenses, and restaurants.
“Alfred DiGirolomo swindled multiple clients to pay for country club dues and cigars, and in one case, stole from one client to repay another victim,” Singas said. “My office has prosecuted more than 25 attorneys for criminally victimizing their clients, and this defendant’s case should send a strong message to all lawyers that betraying their clients can come with a heavy price.”
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