A state appeals court has immediately suspended from practicing law a veteran New York real estate attorney convicted of failing to pay more than $1 million in federal taxes, rejecting an attempt he made three days before his sentencing to secure a voluntary, non-disciplinary resignation.

“We agree with the [Attorney Grievance] Committee that respondent’s guilty plea and sentence to the federal crime of willful failure to collect or pay over taxes made him no longer eligible for a resignation for non-disciplinary reasons,” wrote the Appellate Division, First Department court in suspending attorney Steven Jeffrey Kwestel.