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New York tax attorney Steven Etkind has been indicted on four federal counts for allegedly embezzling more than $3.5 million from a client's estate that had been intended for investment into charitable trusts.

Etkind has been a partner at Sadis & Goldberg and, while there was no biography page Wednesday for Etkind on the firm's website, he was listed elsewhere on the site as head of the firm's tax practice.

The Law Journal left messages requesting comment with the three members of the firm's executive committee, as well as another representative with the firm, on Wednesday evening, but they did not immediately respond to those requests.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Etkind represented an entrepreneur, who named the attorney co-executor of his $35 million before his 2008 death.

Etkind's client had directed in his will for some of his estate to be used to create trust funds to donate to charitable organizations.

But, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, Etkind worked with a co-conspirator who is not a defendant in the case to funnel money from charitable funds into shell accounts allegedly under the control of Etkind and his co-conspirator.

Etkind allegedly used a portion of the money to purchase a 6,300-square-foot house in Southampton, New York, and tried to cover his tracks by filing fraudulent trust reports with the Internal Revenue Service.

Etkind, 57, is charged with conspiracy, endeavoring to obstruct the enforcement of internal revenue laws and two counts of tax evasion. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 18 years, according to the U.S. attorney's release.

A graduate of Tulane University Law School, Etkind was admitted to the New York bar in 1987.

Etkind did not respond to a message left at his office requesting comment; neither his indictment nor the U.S. attorney's news release lists a defense attorney for Etkind.