Ex-Barclay Damon Lawyer Sentenced to Over 5 Years for 'Ruthless and Predatory' Conduct
Albert Hessberg and his advocates said he diverted fees from his firm and began taking money entrusted to him by clients because of the pressure to give his family the same kind of life he had.
November 04, 2019 at 01:54 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
Albert Hessberg III, a former trusts and estates partner at Barclay Damon who admitted to defrauding his firm and clients of over $2 million, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison Nov. 1 after saying that he was driven to steal because he wasn't making enough money.
U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino in Albany said at sentencing that Hessberg had acted in a "ruthless and predatory fashion" in his decade-plus scheme to scam his clients and his firm out of millions of dollars, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, which prosecuted the case.
In sentencing submissions, Hessberg and his advocates have said he diverted fees from his firm and began taking money entrusted to him by clients because of the pressure to give his family the same kind of life he had, including paying for his kids' college and a wedding. His sister said in a letter to the court that his job brought in about $90,000, although the time period wasn't stated; the Albany Times-Union reported that D'Agostino said he made $300,000 to $400,000 per year, however.
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