Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of RICHARD DOREN, 50, for stealing approximately $1.1 million from the estates of two deceased clients of the accounting firm where he worked. The defendant is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Repeated Failure to File Personal Income and Earnings Tax (1)
“Richard Doren allegedly stole more than $1 million from the very estate accounts he was responsible for managing,” said District Attorney Vance. “Insider theft and fraud can be committed by new and long-term employees alike – this defendant is accused of stealing from clients at the accounting firm where he worked for approximately 20 years. I urge anyone who believes they may have been the victim of this type of fraud to call my Office’s Financial Frauds hotline at 212-335-8900.”
According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, DOREN was employed by an 86-year-old certified public accountant for approximately twenty years. DOREN was responsible for assisting with the firm’s tax practice, which was previously located at 317 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Approximately ten to fifteen years ago, the accountant began to suffer from a number of health problems, and began to delegate additional responsibilities to DOREN. Among those responsibilities was the administration of the estates of two women who fled Berlin shortly before World War II. The administration of these estates required a lengthy search for next of kin, as many of the decedents’ family members perished during the Holocaust.
DOREN was responsible for gathering the assets of the estates and keeping track of the expenses associated with international genealogical searches for the women’s next of kin. In this capacity, he was the sole individual reviewing bank statements for both accounts. Between October 22, 2009 and January 4, 2015, DOREN made regular, unauthorized withdrawals from one of the estate’s accounts. These unauthorized withdrawals totaled approximately $695,700 and ceased only when the account was completely drained. Meanwhile, DOREN had begun to make similar unauthorized withdrawals from the other estate’s account. Between June 6, 2013 and December 2, 2015, DOREN withdrew approximately $445,400 from the second account. DOREN used the stolen funds to pay off a mortgage in his wife’s name and to pay his and his wife’s credit card bills, for which payments routinely exceeded $10,000 per month. Between 2009 and 2015, DOREN received income taxable in the State of New York resulting from these thefts and was thus required to file a New York State personal income tax return. However, DOREN did not file an income tax return for the stolen funds.
DOREN’s theft came to light when J.P Morgan Chase, which held both of the estates’ accounts, froze one of them due to suspicious activity. To date, DOREN has not repaid any of the money that he stole.
Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw is handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Archana Rao, Principal Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau; Gloria Garcia, Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau; Michael Sachs, Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau; and Executive Assistant District Attorney David Szuchman, Chief of the Investigation Division. Assistant District Attorney Catherine Christian, Chief of the Elder Abuse Unit; Trial Preparation Assistant Julien Tunney; Elder Abuse Program Coordinator Melanie Chan; and Senior Financial Investigator Daniel McNichol of the Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations (“FAFI”) Bureau provided assistance, under the supervision of Irene Serrapica, Deputy Bureau Chief of FAFI, and Robert Demarest, Bureau Chief of FAFI.
District Attorney Vance thanked Detective Jackson Todd of the NYPD’s Financial Crimes Task Force, Special Frauds Squad; Auditor Elias Del Rosario of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance; and J.P. Morgan Chase for their assistance with the case.
[1] The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.
