Did Ponzi scheme prompt attorney's death?

A Rockville Centre attorney who jumped to his death last week is being investigated by the Nassau County district attorney in connection with a Ponzi scheme that is alleged to have defrauded his clients out of millions of dollars. Jay Korn, a Rockville Centre native who served for 12 years as a trustee of the Oceanside Board of Education as well as its president, jumped from the roof of the Hempstead office building where he maintained his law practice.

The Nassau County District Attorney's Office said it is investigating complaints it received about Korn, who died March 24. He shared a law practice at 50 Clinton St. in Hempstead for more than 30 years with his partner, Arthur Spirn.

“We received complaints from people who believed money they invested with Mr. Korn was lost in a Ponzi scheme, and we are investigating those complaints,” a spokesman for the district attorney said. He added that the office began receiving complaints from victims the day after Korn died. As of 5 p.m. on March 30, the office had received 52 complaints stating losses totaling $16.29 million dollars.

Korn's firm, Korn & Spirn, is not under investigation, although investigators removed evidence from the office earlier this week. A woman who answered the phone at Korn & Spirn on Monday declined to comment.

Hempstead police said they responded to a March 24 call reporting an injured person at the firm's building just after 10 a.m. Korn was transported to Mercy Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. A funeral was held March 26.

Korn's friends and colleagues remembered him as a tireless community advocate, a strong leader, and a man who could always bring opposing sides together. A lifelong Rockville Centre resident who graduated from South Side High School, Korn was a former president of the Middle Bay Country Club, and was also on the Board of Directors of the Oceanside Friedberg JCC.

Jerome Reisman, with the Garden City firm Reisman, Peirez and Reisman, is currently representing seven clients who have filed complaints against Korn. Reisman said Korn used his community contacts to his advantage. "This is nothing more than a mini-Madoff," he said. "What he did was preyed on the vulnerability of his clients and friends and social acquaintances that he met through organizations." Reisman said his clients, including residents of Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Great Neck, Roslyn, and Manhattan, were promised 15 percent annual returns on their investments.

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