Judge Slashes Sentence on Embezzlement Charge for Local Lawyer

Steven Leff, a lawyer and a former part-time East Hampton resident, was sentenced to a federal prison term of one year and one day on Monday in United State District Court in Central Islip for stealing more than $13 million in mortgage refinancing proceeds in 2006 and 2007. The sentence was far less than the 30 years he faced.

In June 2008, Leff, a former president of National Settlement Agency, pleaded guilty to the embezzlement charge before United State Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Boyle.

Leff remains free on bail, living in Manhattan, and has to surrender on July 11, 2011, according to Robert Nardoza, a spokesman with the US Attorney's office. Restitution settlements have not yet been decided.

According to the United States Attorney's office, Leff "was entrusted with mortgage refinancing proceeds in his capacity as president of NSA, which acted as a settlement agent for numerous FDIC insured banks." His company would disburse the proceeds to individuals, such as those who sold and refinanced properties and prior mortgage holders, the US attorney's office said in a press release in June 2008.

Leff had lived on Anvil Court in East Hampton. According to The East Hampton Star, his house was sold in 2009 as part of a bankruptcy proceeding following Leff's arrest. NSA had offices in Manhattan and Melville.

“In the midst of a mortgage refinancing boom, the defendant took advantage of his position as a trusted agent of lender banks to embezzle mortgage loan proceeds for his personal gain,” stated United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Benton J.Campbell. “The mortgage refinance process relies on all parties to a transaction acting with honesty and integrity."

When Leff's guilty plea was announced FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Mark J. Mershon said, “Leff was entrusted with large sums of money intended to be disbursed to others in the refinancing process. In simple terms, he stole much of it." He continued, "We investigate embezzlers as vigorously as we investigate bank robbers.”

A call to Jeffrey Hoffman, Leff's attorney, was not immediately returned on Tuesday.