The Supreme Court of New Jersey disbarred Stephanie Hand for her participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. Hand had earned admission to the New Jersey bar in 2000 and had maintained an office in Livingston, N.J. She received an admonition for violating RPC 1.3 and RPC 8.4(d) for proceeding with a client’s real estate purchase, despite knowing the seller had filed a bankruptcy petition and the sale required the prior approval of the bankruptcy court.
In 2015, Hand was admonished for lack of diligence and failure to communicate with a client. For a period of almost nine months, she failed to work on her client’s matter or inform the client that an arbitrator’s decision in favor of his contractor was not appealable. Instead, she continued to allow the client to believe she would complete and file a complaint on his behalf.
From Dec. 1 to Dec. 9, 2015, Hand was suspended from practicing law after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failure to file income tax returns. Effective Oct. 31, 2018, the court suspended Hand for one year, based on those same federal tax offenses.
Hand remains suspended in New Jersey, pursuant to the temporary suspension and one-year disciplinary suspension.
Hand was disbarred on consent in Pennsylvania effective March 10, 2021. Her resignation addressed the federal income tax misdemeanors and her New Jersey criminal convictions for conspiracy and theft by deception.
Between Dec. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2009, Hand participated in a mortgage fraud scheme orchestrated by her co-defendants, Thomas D’Anna and Julio Concepcion. In that scheme, straw buyers fraudulently purchased from D’Anna two properties. Concepcion created the straw buyers via stolen identities he obtained from unknown residents of Puerto Rico. D’Anna leveraged the records Concepcion fabricated to secure mortgages in the name of the straw buyers.
Hand was the settlement/escrow agent for the transactions and represented the buyers. She claims that, in connection with the first closing, someone purporting to be the buyer appeared at her office, and signed the closing documents. A different attorney, who was not present at closing, represented D’Anna as seller. The buyer did not advance the 10 percent down payment required but stated that he would provide a check to D’Anna within 24 hours. Hand notified D’Anna regarding the absence of the down payment and he permitted the closing to continue.
Hand executed a HUD-1 closing statement, falsely certifying that she had received the buyer’s 10 percent down payment. She falsely certified to the lender that she had followed the lender’s master and supplemental closing instructions, and, thus, permitted the loan to close under false, criminal pretenses. The lender wired the more than $400,000 in mortgage proceeds to Hand’s attorney trust account in reliance on her false representations. She paid several fees associated with the transaction and was paid $1,800 for participating in the closing. Concepcion made three mortgage payments before defaulting on the mortgage. The lender ultimately foreclosed on the property.
The closing on the second property occurred a few weeks later. The purported buyer in this transaction did not appear at Hand’s office. In addition, Hand knew that D’Anna had not received the required 10 percent downpayment but still allowed the closing to proceed and executed a fraudulent HUD-1. The lender wired more than $400,000 in mortgage proceeds to Hand’s ATA and Hand was paid a $2,200 fee for participating in the second closing. As in the first transaction, Concepcion made a few mortgage payments before defaulting. The lender then foreclosed on the property.
D’Anna and Concepcion were indicted on money lauding charges in 2014. On March 16, 2017, Hand was tried separately. D’Anna had pleaded guilty and agreed to provide truthful testimony regarding Hand’s role in the scheme. On March 30, 2017, the jury found Hand guilty of second-degree conspiracy, second-degree money laundering, and second-degree theft by deception. Hand was sentenced to time in prison.