Patrick M. Reidy, the Saratoga attorney accused of stealing more than $2million from clients was sentenced in the crime of grand larceny in the second degree, a class C felony, on Friday, Jan. 14, according to Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy. Reidy received the maximum sentence of five to 15 years as an indeterminate term in a state correctional facility and restitution for the 19 victims.
The defendant admitted that he stole over $2 million and will be order to pay back all outstanding money to the victims. Some of the restitution will come from the New York State Layer’s Fund for Client Protection. The Fund was created to protect compensate clients who become victims of attorney theft or embezzlement. Mr. Reidy violated his client’s trust and that is why we requested the maximum sentence allowed by law, said Murphy in a statement, adding that Reidy will have to pay back $2.37 million to his former clients.
Reidy’s conviction stems from a scheme where Murphy said he stole money from real estate closings and diverted it for his own purposes rather than paying off mortgages and other loans. He would then make minimum monthly payments on the mortgages and other loans, rather than closing out the mortgages and paying them in full, said Murphy.
Murphy gave one example:
Reidy collected funds to pay off a mortgage of over $270,000 at closing. Rather than fulfilling his fiduciary duty and paying that off, he began making monthly payments on the outstanding balance. Several months later, when the victim went to apply for a new mortgage on a new home, the previous mortgage that Reidy was supposed to have paid off showed up on her credit report. She reported that to Saratoga Springs Police Investigator Jack Barney, who investigated and discovered the scheme that Reidy was involved in. Once that case was discovered and arrested, a number of other victims came forward after reading media reports of his arrest. Subsequently, since he was incarcerated, he could no longer continue with his `scheme` of monthly payments and the `house of cards` tumbled down.
Murphy said Reidy has no prior criminal history and had waived appeal as part of the agreement.
Three victims of the defendant spoke at the sentencing. Kathleen Armer noted he was `convincing, calculating, and manipulative,` and another victim, an attorney in Saratoga Springs, James Doyle, Esq. said he was `profoundly disappointed by the lack of integrity and honesty that (Reidy) displayed,` according to information from Murphy’s office. The third victim, Theresa Olson-Hoffman mentioned how the actions of the defendant damaged her credit and significantly affected her life.
`White collar crime takes enormous resources and time to investigate charge and prosecute … this case took more than a year to resolve, due to the number voluminous records and the mathematical gymnastics that Reidy played,` said Murphy in a statement.
According to information from Murphy’s office, Reidy had a home worth more than $600,000 in Wilton, a BMW, a Lincoln and an interest in property in Tobago, in the Caribbean.“