New York Real Estate Lawyer Kossoff To Plead Guilty
Mitchell Kossoff, a New York real estate lawyer accused by creditors of misusing client funds, has reached a plea agreement and is expected to surrender for arrest next month.
Prosecutors addressed US Bankruptcy Judge David Jones in a letter, in which they said they expected Kossoff to surrender around December 3 and to enter a guilty plea one week later. However, the letter did not specify the criminal charges against Kossoff or the details of his plea.
In May, Kossoff’s law firm, Kossoff PLLC, went bankrupt after creditors claimed the real estate lawyer misappropriated over $8 million from the firm’s escrow accounts.
A letter by the Manhattan District Attorney asked Judge David Jones to extend its deadline to respond to Al Togut, the trustee overseeing the dissolution of Kossoff’s firm. Togut is seeking grand jury materials relating to the investigation of Kossoff and says he has struggled for months to obtain the materials needed to conduct the now-defunct firm’s estate. Togut has requested that Judge David Jones force the District Attorney to hand the materials over to him.
The grand jury’s investigation will be complete once Kossoff has entered his guilty plea. The office will then seek a court order which will allow materials to be shared with Togut. “We believe that allowing the criminal process to take its course will be the most efficient means of resolving these issues and will avoid unnecessary expenditure of resources by the Court and by DANY,” prosecutors said in the letter.
