Lawyer to be disbarred for forging letters from state OK'ing condo conversions
A Brooklyn, N.Y., real estate lawyer will be disbarred for forging the state documents he needed to convert space in six buildings into 88 condominium units.
Eduard Fridman, 36, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court on charges that he falsified six approval letters for the condo conversions from the state Attorney General’s office, the New York Daily News and the Brooklyn Eagle report.
Under the terms of his plea, Fridman will avoid jail time. But he will forfeit his law license, serve five years probation and pay $100,000 in civil penalties.
“It’s shocking that a member of the bar would forge the signatures of attorneys in my office to fraudulently sell condominiums to the public,” state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told the Daily News.
Fridman’s lawyer, Joel Cohen, said his client was sorry for the wrongs he committed and is attempting to repair the damage he has done.
Fridman will be sentenced Oct. 7.
