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A Westchester attorney accused of attempting to embezzle funds from an estate he was appointed to administer pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud charge, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced Thursday.

Guy Parisi, a former New York City Alcoholic Beverage Control Board commissioner and a state judicial candidate, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith in White Plains, New York federal court, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

“As he admitted today, Guy Parisi, a Westchester attorney, flouted his fiduciary duty to the estate for which he was administrator. He attempted to direct fees from the estate to a company he himself formed with a relative. Now Parisi awaits sentencing for his crime,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

According to prosecutors, Parisi became the court-appointed administrator of a deceased Mt. Vernon resident in April 2017. A substantial portion of the estate's assets designated as abandoned property were being held in the custody of the state comptroller's office.

In June of that year, Parisi retained Stokes Asset Recovery Services as the estate's abandoned property location service. In exchange for its work, the company would retain a fee of 15 percent of the value of what was recoverable from the comptroller.

What was not disclosed was the fact the company was formed by Parisi and a relative less than two weeks before the comptroller's office was alerted it was being retained by the estate. New York law requires the disclosure, and, according to prosecutors, Parisi actively worked to conceal his role in the company, knowing that the estate's assets held by the state were worth millions of dollars.

In a statement, Parisi's attorney, Walden Macht & Haran name partner Jim Walden, said, “Guy fully accepted responsibility, is trying to make things right, and he actually took no money from the estate.”

Parisi was initially charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of mail fraud, and one count of making a false statement. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas on May 2, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

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