Two prominent Staten Island attorneys and their firm were convicted yesterday by an Eastern District jury of paying kickbacks to get favorable treatment in the settlement of 20 personal injury claims.
Frederic Grae, a former president of the Richmond County Bar Association and member of the Grievance Committee in Brooklyn, and Thomas Rybicki, a former president of the Staten Island Trial Lawyers Association, face a maximum five years in prison. Their 11-lawyer firm, Grae & Rybicki, the largest in Staten Island, could be fined as much as $250,000. Sentencing before Eastern District Judge Carol Bagley Amon is set for Sept. 10.
