Lawyer Charged in Alleged Scheme to Divert Mortgage Payoffs to Fake Company
A Massachusetts attorney is accused of using his legal skills to identify properties that were about to be sold and then recording documents to make it look as though a fake company he created held the mortgage on them.
But before Leon Gelfgatt could collect the $1.3 million in mortgage payoffs that he allegedly hoped to steal through this scheme, he was arrested, according to the Boston Herald.
Charged with attempted larcency and uttering, he is expected to be arraigned today in Cambridge District Court in Medford, reports the Boston Globe.
Neither article contains any comment from Gelfgatt or his lawyer.
He is a Marblehead personal injury lawyer, the Boston Business Journal reports.
An investigation by the state attorney general’s office and state police is ongoing, states a press release from Attorney General Martha Coakley.
“At this time,” it says, “investigators believe that Gelfgatt may have fraudulently reassigned numerous other mortgages.”
