News
RB Lawyer Sentenced For Misappropriation Of Funds
By John Burton
FREEHOLD - A former Red Bank lawyer faces seven years in state prison for the misappropriation of money entrusted to him by his clients.
Gary Edelson, 49, who lives in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, received his prison sentence in state Superior Court last Friday, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.
Edelson had been a licensed lawyer with a practice in Red Bank. According to county law enforcement authorities, between Aug. 2003 and Nov. 2005, Edelson had represented clients who were involved in a series of property transactions. Functioning as their attorney, Edelson had collected money to be used for the sales, and established trust accounts for that money. Edelson, however inappropriately used much of that money - to the tune of more than $300,000 - from the trust accounts for such personal expenses as his rent, medical insurance office expenses and taxes.
Edelson had been able to conceal his spending of the money entrusted to him by creating a second set of checks that appeared to be a business account, but were really for the trust account, with Edelson altering his business account records to further conceal the malfeasance, according to the prosecutor's office.
In 2006, the Office of Attorney Ethics, based upon its own investigation, had frozen Edelson's trust accounts, with the remaining money transferred to the New Jersey Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection and was used to reimburse those clients.
Edelson in 2006 consented to his disbarment, the prosecutor's office said.
Edelson on May 11 pleaded guilty to misappropriation of entrusted property before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. in Freehold, as part of the negotiated plea agreement. Also as part of that plea, Edelson agreed to pay $48,805.57 to the First American Title Insurance Company, according to county officials.
