Disbarred lawyer gets 11-22 years for $1 million Brooklyn real estate scam

Brooklyn DA calls lawyer "a financial predator"

April 24, 2017 By Lisa Flaugh Brooklyn News Service for Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called disbarred attorney Domenick Crispino a "financial predator" after Crispino was sentenced to 11-22 years for stealing more than $1 million in a real estate scheme. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese.

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A disbarred lawyer convicted of stealing over $1 million through fraudulent real estate deals in the Bath Beach and Gravesend sections of Brooklyn has been sentenced to 11 to 22 years in prison.

Domenick Crispino, 53, of Tottenville, Staten Island was sentenced Friday at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on charges involving properties at 35 Bay 7th St. in Bath Beach and 1848 West 7th St. in Gravesend. Both were private homes facing foreclosure.

Justice Alexander Leong sentenced Crispino following his conviction in a jury trial in which he was charged with second- and third-degree larceny and with forging and falsifying business records. Crispino, who graduated from Georgetown Law in 1987, was convicted of a felony larceny in 2001 and disbarred. He pretended to be a legitimate attorney in the more recent scheme.

“This defendant can only be described as a financial predator, stealing as much money as he could from as many victims as he could find. Using his knowledge of the law, he repeatedly exploited the victims to enrich himself,” Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

According to the District Attorney’s Investigations Bureau, the crimes took place between February 15, 2011 and June 29, 2015. The property at 35 Bay 7th St. belonged to a 95-year-old owner who desperately wanted to keep the property, despite missing mortgage payments. Crispino ended up siphoning off checks totaling $597,750 by creating a forged document to make it appear he had put the money into an escrow account.

Later, authorities said, Crispino stole a $86,800 down payment from two sisters who wanted to buy the property.

The second property in Gravesend was also facing foreclosure in 2011. Authorities said that on February 15, 2011, Crispino filled a forged deed with the city’s Department of Finance that appeared to transfer the house, worth around $385,000, to Crispino’s company for $10. Crispino then stole down payments from a couple interested in buying the house, and also sold the same house that he never owned to a different couple, authorities said.