A real estate attorney held liable for his conduct in a bogus sale-and-leaseback deal has been censured, though ethics authorities stopped short of finding him complicit, noting “there was no benefit to him, other than his fee.”

A special master found Wyckoff solo William Gahwyler Jr. fudged closing documents and represented conflicting sides in the transaction, which turned out to be a scam and which led to a $690,210 bankruptcy judgment entered jointly against him.