Accountant who stole $1.2M from Holocaust survivor sentenced

An accountant from Oyster Bay who stole more than $1.2 million from a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor was sentenced Thursday to 2 to 6 years in state prison, prosecutors said.

Barry Palczewski, 55, had pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny on Oct. 11.

In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said Palczewski "took advantage of an elderly woman, who had led a remarkable life, by stealing more than $1 million during her final years." The victim, identified only as a woman who had escaped Nazi-controlled Austria in the late 1930s, died in May 2012 at age 97.

Vance said Palczewski, a fiduciary accountant at the law firm entrusted to handle the woman's finances, stole more than 100 checks from a personal account, forged the name of her attorney -- and made them payable to himself. The thefts occurred between 2008 and 2010.

Vance said Palczewski used the money to pay rent, fund a consulting business -- and even make hot tub repairs. Additional funds also were deposited into his personal checking account, Vance said.