A Lengthy Island actual property lawyer was sentenced Wednesday to as much as 10.5 years in jail for embezzling practically $1.8 million from purchasers and utilizing the cash to fund his lavish life-style, authorities stated.
Terrance Dougherty, 35, of Oyster Bay, pleaded responsible on Sept. 8 to 13 counts of grand larceny and one rely of scheme to defraud.
Prosecutors stated he stole the cash from the escrow accounts of not less than 32 purchasers, whom he represented within the sale and buy of properties.
Between March 2021 and November 2024, Dougherty deposited practically $1.8 million from actual property transactions into an lawyer belief account he maintained. By Nov. 29, 2024, the steadiness in that account was simply over $5, prosecutors stated.
An investigation discovered that Dougherty took funds from the lawyer account via money withdrawals, transfers to a different enterprise checking account and a number of bank card accounts. The cash was then used to pay for numerous private bills, together with visits to nightclubs, stays at luxurious accommodations and dinners at costly eating places.
Dougherty was “residing it up whereas his purchasers confronted having nowhere to dwell,” Nassau County District Lawyer Anne Donnelly stated, calling him “a thief who blew via greater than 1,000,000 {dollars}, spending down the escrow funds in his enterprise belief account till it was nearly zeroed out.”
That included practically $200,000 he spent at gents’s golf equipment in New York Metropolis and on Lengthy Island in simply over 5 days.
“Terrance Dougherty is a shame to the authorized career, and he’ll discover no luxurious lodging over the following decade in state jail,” Donnelly stated.
Dougherty, who surrendered to authorities on April 30, was sentenced Wednesday to three.5 to 10.5 years in jail and ordered to pay practically $1.8 million in restitution.
