Former Dewey & LeBoeuf executive Joel Sanders, who managed to avoid a jail sentence despite his felony convictions, has urged a New York judge to reduce or revoke a $1 million fine due to his “dire financial circumstances.”

But the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Sanders is misleading the court, noting he has extensive assets, including an oceanfront front condo in Miami, a $675,000 Long Island home he owns outright, about a million dollars in liquid assets and securities, leases to luxury vehicles and at least a $350,000 salary at his current firm, Greenspoon Marder, where he is chief operating officer.

The dispute comes about a year after Sanders, in an unusual sentence, was given no jail time after his felony convictions for engaging in a fraudulent scheme while serving as the chief financial officer of Dewey, which collapsed in 2012.

Instead of a prison sentence, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz gave Sanders a conditional discharge, ordering him to pay a $1 million fine in annual payments split over three years. If Sanders failed to pay the fine, he “shall be imprisoned for one year until the fine is satisfied,” according to an order signed by Stolz on Oct. 10, 2017. He also ordered 750 hours of community service.

Prosecutors said Sanders should now be jailed until he can pay. “He continues to believe that he is the true victim here,” said assistant district attorney Peirce Moser in newly filed court papers. “He seems to believe there are and should be two different sets of rules of criminal justice, one for rich people like him, and one for all others.”

In papers filed last month, Sanders' defense attorney, Christopher Oprison, a DLA Piper partner, urged the judge to revoke or reduce the $1 million fine. Sanders is unable to pay the one-year installment of $333,333, “despite best efforts to earn, raise, generate or borrow the funds to do so,” Oprison said.

Sanders has so far completed 314 community service hours, “all the while working full time” at Florida-based Greenspoon Marder, Oprison said. (The firm's co-chairman, Gerald Greenspoon, also wrote a letter to Stolz, urging the judge to revoke the $1 million fine. “His departure for any reason would be a serious detriment to the firm, his staff and our partners,” Greenspoon said.)

Oprison said incarcerating Sanders for his inability to pay the fine “would be unjust” and “would impose an undue hardship” on Sanders and his family.

During his time at Greenspoon, Sanders' gross annual salary increased from $275,000 in 2012 to $375,000 in 2018. After taxes and deductions, his net income is less than $200,000 year to date, Oprison said.

“Sanders' net monthly income enables his family to just minimally meet basic living expenses in Florida after paying his mounting legal bills,” Oprison said, adding Sanders “has not been able to accumulate any appreciable savings.”

Sanders paid $350,000 “of his own money” to Dewey's bankruptcy trustee to resolve claims, Oprison noted, and during the first criminal trial and his subsequent retrial, Sanders “personally paid more than $2.5 million of his own money” in attorney fees, expert fees and costs.

Sanders and his wife have for years owned as their primary residence a condo in North Miami Beach, valued at $1 million, in which they have $850,000 in equity, Oprison said. The Sanders couple also owns a New York home, valued at $650,000, that is being used by their children, who remain financially dependent on their father, Oprison said.

The Sanders couple can't borrow against the equity of either house, because, as a result of Sanders' conviction, Sanders can't obtain approval for a personal or home equity loan, a credit line or even a check or savings account, his attorney said.

Meanwhile, jailing Sanders would “greatly impact and be tantamount to punishment on Greenspoon Marder, a firm that has placed a great deal of faith and reliance” on Sanders, Oprison said.

'Far Greater' Assets

Moser, the prosecutor, said Sanders' descriptions of his assets are “just plain false and misleading.” For one, the condo that Sanders owns in Miami is on the top floor of a “luxury beachfront tower” with direct views of the ocean, and “because their condominium is on the top floor, its outdoor balcony is larger than the balconies of all other identical apartments beneath it.” (An exhibit shows that Sanders' condo is in a Trump Tower building.)

While Sanders claims the condo is worth only $1 million, current listings and recent sales for apartments in the building show much higher values, Moser said.

Moser also called into question the $650,000 value for the New York home, in Long Island, noting a neighboring, smaller house sold for $760,000.

And in September 2017, just two weeks before he was sentenced, Sanders opened two accounts at Santander Securities, Moser said, calling into question Sanders' claim that he has been unable to establish any relationship with a bank.

On the new account forms, Sanders stated that his liquid net worth was between $750,000 and $1 million, including $500,000 in mutual funds and $300,000 in cash. He also asserted that his annual income is between $400,000 and $500,000, significantly more than the $375,000 he disclosed, Moser said.

Sanders is also making payments on a 2018 Audi and a 2017 Mercedes Benz, showing he was able to get a vehicle lease agreement, Moser said. “Sanders has failed to explain why he is maintaining two luxury cars at a time when he knows he has an outstanding fine obligation as part of his sentence,” Moser said.

Finally, Moser noted that Sanders inherited securities from his mother valued at more than $30,000, which were still in his Santander accounts as of Oct. 31, 2018, a week after he swore in court papers that all of his assets were depleted.

Sanders owned a hotel apartment with his one-time co-defendant, former Dewey executive Stephen DiCarmine, which was sold for $800,000 in early 2017, said Moser, adding Sanders has failed to explain what happened to those proceeds.

Sanders' current assets, Moser said, “are in fact greater than he admits” and a declaration that Sanders filed in support of his motion to revoke the fine “is a fraud on this court.”

While Sanders claims he has not sold the New York home because he wants his two adult sons to live in the house, “Sanders is free to support any adult he chooses, but he is not free to prioritize doing so over satisfying the conditions of his sentence,” prosecutors said, noting his sons are believed to be ages 25 and 30.

Sanders should be “immediately remanded in accordance with the terms of his sentencing conditions,” the prosecution said.

Even if Stolz were to determine that Sanders cannot afford to pay the fine, he should be re-sentenced to prison, Moser said, recommending a one-year re-sentence.

Moser noted that Sanders' original sentence was unique in the first place. To the DA's knowledge, Moser said, “Sanders is already the only defendant in this courthouse in at least the last two decades not to receive a custodial sentence after being convicted after trial of scheme to defraud but not larceny.”

The parties are expected to argue the issue Thursday.