Nassau Attorney Gets Up To 12 Years In Prison For Embezzling $6 Milliion From Clients

GARDEN CITY, NY — A lawyer from Garden City was sentenced to up to 12 years in prison for stealing more than $6 million in connection with over 50 separate real estate transactions from 2020 to 2024, prosecutors said.

Daniel Boldi, 50, pleaded guilty in October to 13 counts of second-degree grand larceny and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.

He was sentenced on Tuesday to 4 to 12 years in prison. Civil judgment orders in excess of $6.2 million were also issued on behalf of the 52 victims, Donnelly said.

September 8, 2020, and January 17, 2024, Boldi, an attorney experienced in real estate transactions who owned and operated his law firm, Boldi Law Group, P.C., embezzled a total of $6,206,368 from 52 victims, ranging from individual homeowners, real estate agents, lenders and other entities for whom he held money in escrow, the DA's office said.

Boldi committed escrow thefts totaling $4,756,368 from victims who trusted him with the sale or purchase of their property, Donnelly said.

In one scheme, on October 31, 2023, a couple worked with Boldi on the closing of the sale of their home in East Meadow; Boldi acted as the settlement agent for the mortgage lender used in connection with the transaction, the DA said.

Upon receipt of the loan funds from the home buyer’s mortgage company, Boldi should have sent $309,367 to the couple’s mortgage lender to pay off the remainder of the mortgage on the couple’s home, prosecutors said.

Boldi falsely told the couple that the wire transfer from the buyer’s lender was not posted to his escrow account, and the funds were not available at the time of the closing, officials said. Based upon his false representation that the funds were not posted yet, the parties agreed to a “dry closing,” and the deed to the home was held in escrow, Donnelly said.

Days later, Boldi provided the couple with a fraudulent copy of what he purported to be a wire request for the mortgage payoff amount, as proof that the funds were sent to the couple’s mortgage company, the DA said. As a result, the deed was released, and the sale was completed; however, the wire transfer was never sent to the couple’s mortgage company, prosecutors said.

The mortgage payoff funds were never provided to the lender, and the couple was forced to continue making mortgage payments on a home they no longer own, Donnelly said.

“Daniel Boldi’s clients trusted him to safeguard their money during the homebuying process, but he ultimately betrayed them with his greed. The ripple effects of his theft are devastating, leaving victims in a financial hole of more than $6 million,” said Donnelly. “My office won’t allow the people of Nassau County to be cheated by predatory criminals who pose as upstanding professionals. When someone abuses their power like this, we will expose them.”

Boldi is represented by attorney Michael Franzese, whom Patch attempted to reach for comment.