By Jeff Lipton
Levine, 60, pleaded guilty on Monday, July 14, to second-degree grand larceny before Nassau County Court Judge John L. Kase, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 29, as well as pay $418,500 in restitution, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Levine was promised a one-to-three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in January to grand larceny, but victim Melissa Seganti of Rockville Centre pleaded with Judge Kase to consider a stiffer penalty for Levine - right before his Feb. 19 sentencing.
As a result, the judge reconsidered the punishment for Levine, upping his commitment to three-to-nine years and giving Levine the option to withdraw his guilty plea and face trial, during which he could have received a maximum of 15 years in prison if found guilty. Levine decided against taking his chances with a jury, officials said.
Reached at her home last Thursday, Seganti declined to comment on the July 14 court proceedings. But in February she said, "I am absolutely thrilled that he [Judge Kase] listened and that justice was served. I think that being an attorney, Mr. Levine should be held to a much higher standard. He knew what he was doing [was wrong] and he did it anyway."
Levine was convicted of swindling $300,000 from a personal injury lawsuit in December 2006 that Seganti had won resulting from an accident at her home.
Levine also was convicted of bilking an Oceanside couple of $30,000 in real estate proceeds from the sale of a home and cheating an Elmont woman out of a $10,000 down payment on a home, authorities said.
In Seganti's case, Levine traveled to the insurance carrier's Pennsylvania office on Dec. 27, 2006, allegedly to pressure the insurance company into cutting the check immediately because he said the Rockville Centre woman's daughter was scheduled to undergo heart surgery and the woman needed the money to pay for the operation, said Rice.
Seganti has said that her daughter was born with a heart condition and underwent heart surgery when she was 20 months old. She said she was devastated when she learned the attorney had used her daughter to get the money.
"The fact that he used my daughter goes to show that he would say or do anything to get his way," Seganti said in February.
The insurance adjuster issued the $300,000 check to Levine, who then allegedly forged the signatures of his client and her husband and deposited the check into his own account at Signature Bank in Woodmere, the DA said.
Levine's bank account showed the $300,000 deposit being made on Dec. 28, 2006, and by March 2007, after months of writing dozens of checks from this account, Levine's balance stood at negative $139.44, the district attorney said.
"Lawyers are hired into positions of trust, often during a difficult time of someone's life," said Rice. "The betrayal of that trust is something my administration takes very seriously, and we were ready to take this case to trial when Mr. Levine held himself accountable for his actions."
Levine's attorney, Michael Soshnick of Mineola, did not return several
calls for comment last week. But in February he told the Herald that Levine suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after having served in the U.S. Air Force during Vietnam.
In addition, Soshnick said Levine has a compulsive gambling disorder, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to organized crime. He was in so deep with his gambling debts that, according to the FBI, a court-authorized wiretap revealed that organized crime had taken out a "hit" on him, Soshnick said.
Considering those two extreme pressures in his life, Levine may not be criminally responsible for his actions, Soshnick said at the time.
Before he was disbarred on June 26, 2007, Levine had practiced law for 30 years.
Soshnick said he was surprised that Seganti pressed for the tougher sentence, since she received $250,000 in a personal injury lawsuit after injuring her wrist and knee when she brushed against sheetrock which fell on her during a 2004 construction accident at her home.
In addition, the Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection has reimbursed the Rockville Centre woman $250,000, the DA said. Levine has been ordered to pay full restitution to the fund for the reimbursement of the remaining clients.
In the Elmont case, Rice said the victim was in the process of buying a home last May when her real estate agent recommended several attorneys that would be able to draw up the contract of sale. The woman selected Levine and eventually gave him a $10,000 down payment on a home. The sale fell through at the beginning of June, and the woman requested her money be returned to her. Levine, however, suggested that he should hold on to the funds in the hopes that he could resurrect the real estate deal, Rice said.
The Elmont woman continued to remain in contact with Levine throughout the summer, but did not receive a refund, said the DA, who received the complaint on Sept. 12, 2007.
Levine was also convicted of stealing a $25,000 personal injury settlement check due to a homeless woman now living in the Bronx, $91,000 in a real estate scam from a Howard Beach man and $12,500 due a Woodside car crash victim, the DA said.
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
