Bergen County attorney sentenced to 15 years for stealing $4M in client funds to gamble
by MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger
Friday June 19, 2009, 5:05 PM
A former Bergen County attorney was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for stealing $4 million in client funds he gambled away in Atlantic City.
Michael Rumore, 50, of Lyndhurst expressed remorse and apologized before Superior Court Judge Harry B. Carroll, sitting in Bergen County, imposed the sentence. Rumore told the judge that in using his clients' real-estate closing fees to gamble, he let down his family, his profession and himself, according to his attorney, Anthony P. Alfano of Lyndhurst.
Rumore, who practiced law out of a basement office in his home, pleaded guilty Jan. 2 to money laundering and theft by failure to make required disposition of property received.
He will be required to serve at least three years of his sentence in state prison before becoming eligible for parole, Alfano said.
Mike DererAPNew Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram at a news conference in Newark on Thursday, Feb. 5.
"Rather than upholding the law and the interests of his clients as he was sworn to do as an attorney, this defendant stole $4 million in real estate closing funds which he used to gamble," Attorney General Anne Milgram said after the sentencing. "We will continue to aggressively prosecute white collar crime."
Between April 16, 2007, and Aug. 13, 2008, Rumore received more than $4 million from various mortgage companies to effectuate closings on real estate transactions. Instead of using the money to close the deals, he transferred the funds from his attorney trust account to his personal and business accounts and used them to feed his gambling addiction, authorities said.
Alfano said Rumore primarily played high-stakes slot machines, losing $400 with each bet.
"He would lose it in seconds," Alfano said after the sentencing. "Some days he would spend 72 hours without sleeping. Someone in the hole for millions of dollars believes he can pay it back. They always believe they can hit the big one and pay it back."
On the few occasions he did win, Rumore returned the money to his trust account, but it was never enough to cover what he stole, Alfano said.
The affected housing sales, about 20 in all, were completed, but the title companies lost the money because they were responsible for insuring the transactions.
Although Rumore admitted to stealing $4 million, he will be responsible for repaying the title companies $6.2 million, the actual amount of the thefts.
Rumore has surrendered his law licenses in New Jersey and New York
