A Garden City, N.J., attorney pleaded guilty to grand larceny for stealing more than $5 million in connection with 46 separate real estate transactions between September 2020 and January 2024.
Daniel Boldi, 49, pleaded guilty before Judge Caryn Fink to 13 counts of second-degree grand larceny (a C felony) and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud (an E felony).
“Daniel Boldi posed as a trusted professional in real estate transactions and orchestrated elaborate schemes that defrauded nearly four dozen prospective homeowners, real estate brokers, and even a volunteer ambulance corps out of more than $5 million,” District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. “Daniel Boldi’s guilty plea is a step towards financially restoring the lives of the victims he devastated through his schemes. NCDA will continue to hold accountable those who abuse positions of trust for their own selfish gain and who undermine the trust of individuals and families wading into the real estate market.”
Donnelly said between Sept. 8, 2020, and Jan. 17, 2024, Boldi, an attorney experienced in real estate transactions who owned and operated his law firm Boldi Law Group, P.C., embezzled a total of $5,780,424 from 46 victims, ranging from individual homeowners, real estate agents, and other entities for whom he held money in escrow.
Boldi committed escrow thefts that totaled $4,630,424 from victims who worked with him on sales of their property or the purchasing of new property.
In one scheme, on Oct. 31, 2023, a couple worked with Boldi on the closing of the sale of their home in East Meadow. The defendant acted as the settlement agent for the mortgage lender used in connection with the transaction.
Upon receipt of the loan funds from the homebuyer’s mortgage company, the defendant was to distribute $309,367 to the couple’s mortgage lender to pay off the remainder of the mortgage on the East Meadow home.
The defendant falsely told the couple that the wire transfer from the buyer’s lender was not posted to his escrow account, and the funds were not available at the time of the closing. Based upon the defendant’s false representation that the funds were not posted yet, the parties agreed to a “dry closing,” and the deed to the home was held in escrow.
Days later, on Nov. 2, 2023, the defendant provided the couple with a fraudulent copy of what he purported to be a wire request for the mortgage payoff amount, as proof that the funds were sent to the couple’s mortgage company. As a result, the deed was released, and the sale was completed. However, the wire transfer was never sent to the couple’s mortgage company.
The mortgage payoff funds were never provided to the lender, and the couple has been forced to continue making mortgage payments on a home they no longer own.
In another scheme, the defendant also provided a private lender with a fraudulent mortgage and title closing records, embezzling $1.15 million through two separate loan thefts between Sept. 8, 2020, and Nov. 7, 2023.
According to bank records, Boldi used the funds he stole on various personal expenses unrelated to the victims’ transactions, including Venmo payments to other individuals and property investments.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Investigative Counsel Jennifer Contreras of the Major Financial Frauds Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Maureen McCormack and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Rick Whelan.