Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

FIND A LEGAL COUNSEL

“Vanished” NYC Real Estate Partner’s Legal Trouble Mounting

Manhattan real estate lawyer, Mitchell Kossoff, has not been heard from since April 1, seemingly vanishing into thin air. Now he’s facing lawsuits from clients alleging the theft of millions of dollars in escrow funds and the resignations of multiple lawyers from his NYC firm.

real estate vanishPhoto Credit: Shutterstock

Lawyers at the law firm say they have heard no communication from Kossof, and are not receiving paychecks, according to a Law360 report. An involuntary bankruptcy petition filed against Kossoff PLLC alleges more than $8 million in misappropriated escrow funds, while the Manhattan district attorney has also opened an investigation.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams of the Southern District of New York said Friday she will grant an injunction barring Kossoff from accessing three bank accounts, but according to court documents, there is only about $120,000 left in them. She is presiding in a case filed April 12 by Miami developer Gran Sabana Corp. that seeks to recover $4.5 million in escrow funds. A lawyer representing the company told Abrams that she thinks more than $17 million has been stolen.

Judge Jennifer Schecter of New York state court is presiding in several other lawsuits and issued an April 13 order effectively freezing various bank accounts as well.

These actions come as four landlords filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Kossoff accusing him of disappearing with $8 million in escrow funds, court records show. The full client list includes Gran Sabana Corporation, United American Land, Thomas Sneva, and Louis and Jeanmarie Giordano.

In emails submitted with one Manhattan Supreme Court suit, Kossoff wrote that his accounts were frozen in recent months so he couldn’t give back the money, but was reaching out to his mother to “secure alternate funds to wire to you.”

Walter Mack, a lawyer for Kossoff, told Law360 that his client has not fled and is not seeking to evade prosecutors. He said he is representing Kossoff “solely should there be any criminal law consequences of his conduct.”

“Every couple of years you have one of these cases where an attorney runs off with his client’s money,” said one landlord familiar with Kossoff’s case, speaking only on the condition of anonymity.

Read more articles from Haute Lawyer, visit https://hauteliving.com/hautelawyer/

Source: https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/after-managing-partner-goes-missing-lawyers-get-no-paychecks-and-clients-allege-millions-of-dollars-in-lost-funds

FIND A LEGAL COUNSEL