A thieving Manhattan lawyer — convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients’ settlements — begged a judge for a few more days to get his affairs in order at his sentencing in Manhattan Tuesday.
Brian Reis, 52, copped to swiping $ 213,000 in settlements and retainer fees from four victims in exchange for a lenient sentence of two to six years in state prison.
“Your honor, I am not the person I’ve been portrayed to be,” he tried to convince Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Renee White. “I am someone who helps and that is something I’ve been defined by.”
He then requested a brief adjournment to help his family — who were conspicuously absent from the court room — move out of their foreclosed home in New Jersey. White swiftly denied the disbarred lawyer’s application.
“The delay in prosecuting and the delay in sentencing has been long enough,” said White of the theft which took place over nearly six years. “You were using that money for gambling and to support a very good lifestyle.”
Reis’ former business partner also blasted him as “one of the most manipulative people I have ever met” and added “he has no empathy, no ethics, no morality.” Reis failed to pay him $ 30,000 causing his financial ruin, he claimed.
The disgraced attorney kept his victims at bay with wacky excuses. He told one desperate victim he drove into a moose and yet another that his car exploded. Meanwhile, he spent $ 640,000 on Internet gambling, according to prosecutors.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=16575
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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