Lawyer who stole more than $1M from his law firm gets disbarred

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Ethics Lawyer who stole more than $1M from his law firm gets disbarred

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 28, 2024, 12:16 pm CDT

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A lawyer accused of using his law firm as “a personal gold mine” has been disbarred after he admitted stealing more than $1 million from the entity. (Image from Shutterstock)

A lawyer accused of using his law firm as “a personal gold mine” has been disbarred after he admitted stealing more than $1 million from the entity.

The Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court disbarred lawyer Arthur G. Cohen in a March 26 opinion noted by the Legal Profession Blog.

Law360 has coverage.

Cohen pleaded guilty in September 2023 to grand larceny, tax fraud and perjury. According to the New York appeals court, the conviction stemmed from Cohen’s admission that he stole more than $1 million over six years from his firm, failed to declare the income on his tax returns, and falsely claimed in a lawsuit that he had been wrongly accused.

Cohen’s firm was the now-defunct Gordon & Silber, according to previous coverage by Reuters.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had claimed that Cohen used his position as a senior equity partner and treasurer to turn his firm into “a personal gold mine.”

When he pleaded guilty, Cohen admitted stealing about $1.2 million from the firm between January 2014 and February 2020, according to a September press release by the district attorney’s office. He directed the firm to pay the credit cards for him and his family, charged personal expenses to firm credit cards and overpaid himself in 2019, according to the press release.

He allegedly used firm money to pay for luxury hotel stays, to buy a $40,000 diamond-encrusted Cartier watch, and to buy a $57,000 diamond ring.

Cohen was sentenced in October to 2.5 to 7.5 years in prison.

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