Victims seek reimbursement from alleged adoption fraud

No matter how many couples come forward to claim that alleged adoption fraudster Kevin Cohen scammed them, they're all eligible to get much - and possibly all - of their money back, thanks to a tiny state agency that repays victims for losses due to lawyers' dishonesty.

More than a dozen people from Ohio to Texas to Manhattan to Port Washington have told Nassau prosecutors in recent weeks that Cohen, a Roslyn-based adoption attorney who is now in jail, had stolen their money after promising them a baby to adopt.

They're all eligible to seek reimbursement from the Albany-based agency, the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection. The 244,000 or so registered attorneys in New York pay a mandatory $350 general registration fee every two years - $60 of which goes to the fund.

Anyone who's been a victim of "dishonest conduct of attorneys," such as misappropriation of funds, theft from escrow accounts or settlement money, or fraud, can file a claim with the fund for losses of up to $300,000 each.

Being reimbursed takes an average of nine to 12 months, the fund's executive director, Tim O'Sullivan, said, but times can vary.

Last year, the fund - which can pursue attorneys for client reimbursement - paid out 130 awards totaling $6.8 million involving 48 attorneys statewide, O'Sullivan said. Six of the 48, or 12.5 percent, were from Long Island; Of the 130 awards, 27, or 21 percent, were from Long Island; and $1.78 million, or 26 percent, were from Long Island.

Long Island makes up a large share of the claims because of the sheer number of lawyers here, the area's high price tag of real estate and, unlike some other parts of the state, the local practice of lawyers holding down payments for clients in their escrow accounts, O'Sullivan said.

In the Cohen case, Nassau prosecutors have already contacted the fund, O'Sullivan said, and several alleged victims or their attorneys have called the fund directly to ask for applications to be reimbursed.

So far, complaints made to the Nassau County district attorney's office have led to charges in the case of just one family. Cohen is alleged to have showed the family fake medical records and a sonogram supposedly belonging to the birth mother.

That couple, Milton and Deborah Josephs of Port Washington, say they gave Cohen $65,000 and he gave them no baby, just excuses. Prosecutors have called the case an adoption Ponzi scheme and say more charges are possible.

Cohen's defense attorney, Matin Emouna of Mineola, whose client has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and possession of a forged instrument, said he would be investigating the case and working with prosecutors to determine the location of client money.

Cohen is being held at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash bail.