Queens Lawyer Accused Of Stealing $150K From Clients: DA

FRESH MEADOWS, QUEENS — A Queens-based lawyer stands accused of stealing more than $150,000 from clients, including one who claims to have never received a dime from a personal injury settlement.

Michael Kohn, a Long Island resident who had a law office in Fresh Meadows, was arraigned Monday on three grand larceny charges, one for each of the clients he is accused of swindling, according to a news release from the Queens District Attorney's Office.

Kohn, 70, voluntarily surrendered his law license last year due to disciplinary reasons, prosecutors said.

His defense attorney, Brian Griffin, did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Prosecutors said Kohn's cons started in June 2013, when a client managing a dead relative's estate hired him to handle the sale of a property in Douglaston.

The property sold for about $650,000, which got deposited into an account that Kohn controlled, but the client received just $100,000, according to prosecutors.

A similar pattern played out in August 2016, when a client hired Kohn to handle the sale of an estate property in Woodside but received just $100,000 of the $358,000 they were owed after the property sold, prosecutors said.

A third client hired Kohn in 2015 to handle a personal injury lawsuit, which ended in a $90,000 settlement. When the client asked Kohn for the money, he claimed it was delayed due to an unpaid $4,300 medical bill, but Kohn never handed any of it over, according to prosecutors.

If convicted, Kohn faces up to 15 years in prison.