STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Earlier this year, authorities accused a Westchester attorney, who was brought in to right the financial ship at United Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, of siphoning off nearly $2 million in bereaved families' payments and cash.
It turns out Timothy Griffin pocketed those funds to replace more than $1 million he had glommed from his real-estate clients' escrow accounts to fuel his family's extravagant lifestyle, authorities alleged Thursday.
Griffin, 54, paid for a Westchester country club membership, a BMW and Lexus, pricey jewelry and other expenses with the money, said state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in announcing the lawyer's arrest.
"Attorney-client privilege does not give lawyers the right to steal from clients in order to fund their own lavish lifestyle," said Schneiderman in a statement. "Clients must be able to trust their attorneys and abusing that trust is both unethical and illegal. (Griffin's) arrest sends the message that there must be one set of rules for everyone."
Schneiderman said Griffin, who practices in Bronxville and lives in Ridgefield, Conn., swindled his clients between April 2009 and February of this year.
The alleged crimes came to light as investigators probed the theft from United Hebrew Cemetery, said Schneiderman.
Griffin was arrested Thursday and arraigned in Westchester County on seven felony counts of grand larceny, said prosecutors.
"Mr. Griffin voluntarily appeared today to address these charges," said Denis P. Kelleher, the defendant's Manhattan-based lawyer. "He is fully cooperating with the attorney general's office and is making every effort to resolve this matter."
In the United Hebrew case, Griffin, the outside counsel for the nonprofit cemetery, is accused of transferring $1.95 million from its permanent maintenance fund into his business bank account, court papers said. Those transactions allegedly occurred between Oct. 5, 2012, and Jan. 3 of this year.
He was charged with seven counts of grand larceny in that case, which is pending in state Supreme Court, St. George. He has denied the allegations.
Griffin was brought in to keep an eye on the books after a cemetery official had helped herself to more than $850,000, said authorities.
The couple operated and controlled the cemetery between the mid-1990s and September 2011, said officials.
Between 2006 and 2011, Mrs. Friedman diverted $850,000 in cash intended for the cemetery from families and monument companies, said court papers. She allegedly doctored the cemetery's books to conceal her actions.
The couple spent lavishly on themselves and also accessed the cemetery's credit cards, charging tens of thousands of dollars' worth of goods and services for their personal use, court documents said.
Mrs. Friedman pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny.
Her husband was not criminally charged, although court papers said Friedman, the former president, "failed to exercise proper oversight" and "failed to implement adequate internal controls," enabling his wife to carry out the scheme.
According to court papers, Griffin was named acting president after the cemetery board removed the Friedmans.