Disbarred Lawyer From Long Island Admits To Bilking Clients Of Thousands: DA

RIVERSIDE, NY — A former Long Island attorney admitted to pilfering over $800,000 from three of his former clients by taking their money from his escrow account, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Douglas Valente, a 57-year-old Florida man who was once the principal attorney at the Valente Law Group in Stony Brook, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree grand larceny on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

“Over more than two years, this defendant used his attorney escrow account as his own personal slush fund when he took money belonging to his clients and used it for personal and business expenses,” Tierney said. “No one is above the law, and my office will continue to prosecute attorneys and other professionals who choose to steal from their clients.”

Between April 14 and May 31, 2020, Valente stole $181,201 from the sale of the home of an elderly client he had represented, and Valente was required to send half of the proceeds to his client and the other half to her matrimonial attorney for escrow until her divorce was finalized, prosecutors said.

Although Valente did send half of the proceeds to his client, he failed to send the remaining half of the money to her matrimonial attorney, prosecutors said, adding that as a result, when his client’s divorce was finalized, she was unable to get the remaining funds from the home sale.

In a similar instance, from May 14, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022, Valente stole almost $400,000 from another client who had sold a home during a pending divorce proceeding, using the funds for business and personal expenses.

From Sept. 28 through Oct. 13, 2020, Valente stole $248,027 from Guaranteed Rate Inc., a mortgage lender that he represented in a refinance transaction, prosecutors saidGuaranteed Rate Inc. wired money to Valente’s escrow account to be dispersed in the transaction and he was supposed to send a portion of the proceeds of the refinanced mortgage to the prior mortgage company to pay off the existing mortgage, but he did not, according to prosecutors.

Because of this, the company had to pay off the existing mortgage in the amount of $248,027, prosecutors said.

In May 2022, the New York Grievance Committee for the 10th Judicial District disbarred Valente, making him ineligible to practice law in the state.

He is due back in court on Monday.

His attorney, William Keahon of Hauppauge, could not be immediately reached after business hours.