Lawyer Charged in $4.7 Million 'Fraud'

Ex-cop, lawyer charged in $4.7M 'fraud'
The New York Post by Bruce Golding  -  May 16, 2012

A former NYPD sergeant and a Manhattan lawyer were busted today for allegedly scamming investors out of more than $4.7 million through a phony real-estate project.  Ex-cop James Monahan "repeatedly touted his prior service with the NYPD as proof of his trustworthiness" before he and lawyer Edward Adams looted the money from Adams' escrow accounts, court papers charge.  In 2008, Monahan began marketing a plan to develop 1,200 condo units in the Dominican Republic to BridgePoint Venutres, a real-estate investment firm in Florida, according to the Manhattan federal court complaint.  As part of the scheme, Monahan and an unidentified co-conspirator allegedly showed company execs a partly developed site in Santiago where the "Praderas Del Yaque" condos would purportedly be built.  But after suspicions about the project arose the following year, BridgePoint workers returned to the site and found "no progress had been made...and there were animals grazing on the property," court papers say.  Monahan and Adams both declined comment after being freed on bond.