Budd Larner Tech Officer Charged With Bilking Law Firm for Nearly $1M
Federal prosecutors claim Budd Larner's CTO created fake companies to file false invoices that the firm paid out, only to funnel the money to himself and a co-defendant through online payment processors.
February 28, 2019 at 12:00 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
The chief technology officer of New Jersey-based law firm Budd Larner has been accused of stealing nearly $1 million over the course of a number of years, according to documents filed in two interconnected suits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
An indictment brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York that was unsealed in early February charged the Budd Larner CTO Rocco Romeo and a co-defendant, Jacqueline Galler, with four criminal counts, including wire fraud and money laundering-related charges.
According to the prosecutors, the unnamed New Jersey-based company had been defrauded by Romeo through a sophisticated system of falsified invoices, fake companies and conspicuous efforts to conceal the alleged scheme that cost the firm $900,000 over three years.
The scheme, prosecutors claim, started with Romeo receiving invoices generated by a company that went by several versions of the name Seventech. The invoices were routed through two online payment platforms, FreshBooks and PayPal, and sent directly to Romeo.
When asked by Budd Larner about the nature of the company, Romeo allegedly painted the company as a Silicon Valley tech firm with employees operating under a nondisclosure agreement with former employers. This, prosecutors say Romeo claimed, was why all communications need to go through him directly.
In fact, federal authorities claim, the company is a fiction used by Romeo and his co-defendant to bilk the firm for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to the now-unsealed complaint, a law enforcement officer reached out to the company located at the Midtown Manhattan address listed on the invoices sent through FreshBooks. When a representative for the company at that address was reached, the person told federal authorities he had worked in customer service for that company for five years and did not recognize the name Seventech or any of its permutations.
After the invoices were paid, the money moved into accounts that listed Galler as the owner. Authorities identified Galler—who also used the name “Star”—as a resident of Sugar Loaf in Orange County.
Jacqueline Galler's attorney, sole practitioner Benjamin Ostrer, confirmed a local artist in the community named Star Galler was in fact his client.
“We've communicated with the U.S. attorney's office. Ms. Galler intends to be cooperative. We believe that she's a victim,” Ostrer said.
Federal authorities claim Galler handled the allegedly illicit funds, either by transferring them into a corporate account created under a version of the Seventech name that were then withdrawn, or by transferring them either directly to a bank account owned by Romeo or, in the PayPal scenario, into Romeo's personal online account. Both defendants allegedly used funds to directly pay personal credit card bills.
Authorities claim the defendants “have had extensive personal dealings.” Prosecutors said the pair are both involved in a yarn business Galler owns in Monroe. The two would regularly communicate via cell phone calls, texts and picture messages, sometimes late into the evening. As recently as the morning of January, law enforcement claims to have seen Romeo, whose home is 20 minutes away in Washingtonville, departing Galler's residence in Sugar Loaf.
Court records filed by Romeo's attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Jason Ser, make reference to Romeo's wife.
While Budd Larner, based in Short Hills, is never mentioned in the criminal proceedings, a more recent civil filing in the Southern District by the law firm connects the two cases.
On Feb. 26, Budd Larner shareholder Philip Chronakis filed a civil RICO complaint against Romeo and Galler on behalf of the firm. While the complaint remains publicly inaccessible through the federal court's online filing system, an order to show cause sets a March 12 hearing date in the White Plains courthouse on the issue of enjoining Romeo and Galler from accessing accounts that may contain funds purloined from the firm.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants' accounts ahead of the hearing, ordering papers be filed from both sides in the coming weeks, including what additional actions the law firm may seek beyond the protective order.
Chronakis did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The criminal case is USA v. Romeo 19-mj-01009. The civil suit is Budd Larner v. Romeo 19-cv-01720.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'This Trend Isn't Over': Law Firm Partner De-Equitizations Expected to Continue
Hagens Berman Accused of Withholding Share of $13M Award in Pharmaceutical Settlement
Unanswered Questions on Remote Work Complicate NJ Wage Transparency Law, Litigators Say
4 minute read'Go 12 Rounds' or Settle: Rear-End Collision Leads to $2.25M Presuit Settlement
Trending Stories
- 1The Fall of Chevron Deference and the Future of the Courts
- 2NY Judicial Watchdog: Westchester County Trial Court Judge Tried to Interfere in Divorce Case on Behalf of Friend's Law Firm
- 3Professors Association Appoints New GC at Fractious Time
- 4Freshfields Adds Cap Markets, Employee Benefits Partners in Silicon Valley
- 5Mastering the Art of Client Management
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250