MINEOLA, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- A woman pleaded guilty on Thursday for stealing approximately $750,000 from a 91-year-old woman who had entrusted her finances to her attorney, the defendant’s employer, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Elizabeth Reilly, 50, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second degree.
According to DA Donnelly, Reilly’s employer, a Floral Park attorney, had a verbal agreement with the victim that he would handle her finances as she began executing a Power of Attorney, Living Will and other documents with him.
As part of this agreement, the law office’s address became the mailing address on record for the victim’s financial institutions and Reilly was given access to bank statements, check books, credit cards and financial statements.
According to the investigation, between 2016 and 2020, there were over 250 checks written from the victim’s bank accounts and made out to Reilly or to cash and deposited into the defendant’s accounts or an account held by the defendant’s husband. The deposited checks totaled more than $675,000.
Additionally, Reilly used the victim's credit cards to make unauthorized purchases for Reilly's own benefit, including included personal purchases, beauty products, a gym membership, and airline tickets.
She also made purchases using her own PayPal account, and then paid her account with the victim's credit card. Riley also paid the victim's credit card balances online, using the victim’s bank accounts.
The theft was discovered in October 2020, when Reilly’s employer reviewed the victim’s credit card statements and saw questionable activity.
The case was referred to NCDA’s Financial Crimes Bureau in February 2021.
“At an advanced age, the victim knew it made fiscal sense to trust her finances to her attorney. She couldn’t have predicted that the defendant, who was given access to her bank statements, check books, and credit cards, would look at her life’s savings as a convenient payday,” said DA Donnelly. “The defendant drained nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the woman, paying for airline tickets, a gym membership, and other personal purchases.”
Reilly is due back in court on July 7, and is expected to be sentenced to three to six years in prison.
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