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Thomas has a law office on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Rosedale.
By Forum Staff
A Brooklyn woman, who has a law office in Rosedale, has been charged with stealing more than $200,000 from a client following the sale of a residential property in Brooklyn in November 2013, Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan announced Tuesday.
Audrey Thomas, 49, turned herself in to law enforcement early Monday morning and was arraigned several hours later on a criminal complaint charging her with second-degree grand larceny. Thomas was released on her own recognizance and ordered to return to court on Sept. 12.
According to the charges, in May of 2013, a Brooklyn woman hired Thomas to represent her in the sale of a home she owned on Madison Street in Brooklyn. The contract for the sale of the property was $1 million, and during the closing in November of 2013, several checks were issued. Thomas was to hold all funds in escrow for the client. The checks were deposited into Thomas’s Bank of America account, but in May of 2014, that account was closed and the balance was transferred to a JP Morgan Chase account.
Over time, Thomas allegedly engaged in a pattern of activity depleting the account, using the funds for both personal and business expenses. By November 2014, the Chase bank account balance was down to just $25. Thomas, when confronted by the victim’s daughter, allegedly said that she had lost all proceeds from the sale of the home.
Ryan said Thomas allegedly “acted without regard for her client to benefit her own greed. Such alleged actions cannot go unpunished.”
If convicted, Thomas faces up to 15 years in prison.
