Disbarred Attorney Sentenced

Disbarred lawyer imprisoned for stealing nearly $1 million from grandparents, others
The Journal News by Rebecca Baker - April 15, 2008

A disbarred Greenburgh lawyer will serve at least 2 1/2 years in prison for stealing nearly $1.1 million from his clients - including his grandparents. Chase Caro, 49, pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, a felony, for stealing $310,000 from Hazel and Sol Sloshberg of New Jersey in 2006. The plea mirrored one he took last year for stealing $480,000 from a Peekskill man he represented in a housing settlement and just over $300,000 from the sale of Francesca's Pizzeria in Shrub Oak.

Westchester County Judge Susan Cacace sentenced Caro - the only son of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Robert Caro - to between 2 1/2 and 7 1/2 years in prison yesterday. A sheepish Caro apologized to his victims in court, saying they were entitled to better representation. "I deeply regret the problems caused by my actions," he said. His apology was not accepted by Francesca Salvi, who hired Caro to sell her restaurant in 2006. She wanted Caro to get the maximum sentence - 15 years.

"For what he did to us, it's not enough," she said at the sentencing. "He ruined our lives." Salvi said she entrusted Caro with the checks from the pizzeria sale, which they never saw. Without that money, she said, her family could not start another business and she and her husband went deep into debt. "Now we don't have any money because we had to live off loans and credit cards," she said. Salvi received $300,000 from The Lawyer's Fund for Client Protection, but that money went to repay her family and creditors. Caro owes Salvi another $7,200.

The Lawyer's Fund also paid Herbert Newkirk of Peekskill $300,000 - the maximum allowed by law -for part of the litigation settlement involving his home. Prosecutors said Caro sent Newkirk a check for $310,000 but the check was returned for insufficient funds. Caro still owes Newkirk $170,000. Caro also has yet to repay his grandmother, who hired him to set up a trust fund with three certificates of deposit.

Prosecutors say Caro liquidated the three CDs without the couple's permission, set up a joint trust fund in his name and theirs, and began withdrawing money for his own use. Defense attorney John Raimondo, reading a presentence report from the Probation Department, said Caro's actions were "a crime of opportunity." Raimondo later noted that Caro took responsibility for his actions and was eager to repay his clients, although he would not specify how he planned to do that.