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Two More Lawyers Plead Guilty in Decade-Old 'Runner' Investigation
New York Law Journal
July 31, 2009
Two Brooklyn lawyers on Thursday agreed to give up their law licenses in a case where they were accused of providing cover to a suspended lawyer, allowing him to continue practicing for 19 months.
David Resnick and Serge Binder were the 13th and 14th attorneys ensnared in an investigation that began in 1999 when a "runner" first came under scrutiny for bribing hospital employees. The bribes were an attempt to gain access to accident victims whose no-fault cases were then steered to attorneys for as much as $500.
The two lawyers, who practiced together at Resnick & Binder in Coney Island, N.Y., waived indictment Thursday and pleaded guilty to one count each of filing false city and state tax returns in 2006.
Under the plea deal, both attorneys agreed to pay $65,000 in restitution and were sentenced to five years probation.
With Thursday's plea agreements, the Manhattan district attorney's office has recovered $1.9 million in fines and restitution from the 14 lawyers netted in the probe.
Resnick and Binder will automatically lose their law licenses because they pleaded guilty to a violation of Tax Law §1804(b), a class E felony.
The attorneys admitted letting a third attorney, Richard Boter, operate a law office in Manhattan using the firm's name, Resnick & Binder.
Claiming to be a lawyer with Resnick & Binder, Boter, who had been suspended in February 2006, handled personal injury and no-fault cases until the fraudulent law firm arrangement was uncovered in August 2007, said Alicia Maxey Greene, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office. In February 2007, Boter began operating out of the firm's Coney Island office.
Boter paid the firm $8,600 a month for 15 months, $129,000 in total, for the use of the firm's name, according to prosecutors.
Adrian L. DiLuzio, who represented Resnick, said his client had no intention of enabling Boter to practice law after his license had been suspended. Michael S. Ross, who represented Binder, could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors were led to Resnick and Binder during the course of their investigation of Boter.
Boter was suspended by the Appellate Division, 1st Department, following his guilty plea in Nassau County for purchasing personal injury cases from a runner and irregularities in his client escrow accounts.
Last year, Boter pleaded guilty to charges of stealing $148,000 from his clients. He was sentenced to a six-month jail term and paid $148,000 in restitution, and has since been disbarred.
12 LAWYERS LINKED TO RUNNER
Boter was one of 12 lawyers who have been linked to Jean Phillipe Landi, a runner who pleaded guilty in 2005 to bribing hospital employees for information about accident victims.
Landi visited the victims either in the hospital or in their homes pretending to be a lawyer or a hospital employee and then sold their cases to lawyers for as much as $500 each, according to the district attorney's office.
Landi pleaded guilty to enterprise corruption, which carries a maximum penalty of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison, and has yet to be sentenced. Greene declined comment on whether Landi is cooperating but said the investigation is ongoing.
Resnick and Binder's firm handled no-fault and personal injury cases and employed one other lawyer. The firm became defunct several months ago, Greene said.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel G. Cort, who is the deputy chief of the rackets bureau, handled the case for the prosecution.
