Man gets 46 months for email scam that told lawyer to send client's $250K to 3rd party
An Ohio man was sentenced this month to 46 months in federal prison for sending a spoofed email that tricked an upstate New York real estate attorney into sending $250,000 from a client’s real estate transaction to a third party.
Paul Lacey, 56, was also ordered to pay $337,002.64 in restitution in the Rochester, New York, case, according to the Livingston County News and the Rochester Business Journal.
An affidavit says Lacey sent an email last year to an unidentified Dansville, New York, attorney that seemed to come from a client of the lawyer. It instructed the attorney to transfer the client’s $250,000 from a New York bank to a Georgia account set up by Lacey in the name of a fake company.
After learning that the email wasn’t from the client, the lawyer contacted the FBI, which identified Lacey as a suspect from bank surveillance footage. He pleaded guilty in October to a single count of engaging in financial transactions involving illegally obtained funds.
It isn’t clear from news coverage whether any of the $250,000 has been returned, or how the court came up with the restitution figure.
An earlier WFMJ story says the feds accused Lacey of withdrawing $95,000 of the transferred money from an Atlanta account.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Hackers are stealing closing funds by intercepting lawyer-client email, experts say”
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyers and clients beware: Spoof phone calls may direct funds to scammers”
ABAJournal.com: “Spoofers are using BigLaw firm names in phishing expeditions”
