Lawyer's victim would rather have knockout

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Lawyer's victim would rather have a knockout than have him in jail

Timothy O'Connor
The Journal News

Sixty-one-year-old George Balbes said he was glad the man who stole $160,000 from him was going to prison. But he would have been happier with a Bronx solution to the problem.

Balbes, who lives in Orange County but was raised on Gun Hill Road, wants to beat up real estate lawyer Anthony Bellettieri.

"The judge should have gave him to me, put him in the ring with me," Balbes said. "That would make me happy."

Bellettieri, 53, of Pleasantville, faces at least 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in May, after admitting Thursday that he stole more than $20 million from banks and real estate clients who did business with his Harrison-based firm, Bellettieri, Fonte and Laudonio. Bellettieri pleaded guilty to bank fraud and mail fraud. He admitted he stole the money between 2003 and November last year.

Federal prosecutors said he spent some of the money on the high life, buying vacation condos in Florida and Aruba, upgrading his family's home, paying for a family wedding, and leasing new cars. In addition, he paid high salaries to staffers of the law firm, far in excess of the firm's legitimate income.

While Bellettieri was living it up, Balbes was fighting off a lawsuit by the title company for the more than $120,000 in bounced checks from Bellettieri's firm after the sale of Balbes' Middletown home in November. He considered filing for bankruptcy. Now he says he plans to file papers with the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection in Albany. The organization, funded by attorney registration fees, reimburses victims of lawyers' misdeeds up to $300,000.

The executive director of the fund, Timothy J. O'Sullivan, said in a recent interview that the fund pursues legal action against the offending lawyers to reimburse the fund.

In addition to prison, Bellettieri faces up to $22 million in restitution. It is unclear how much of that will remain outstanding after federal authorities seize and sell all his assets.

As part of his plea deal, Bellettieri agreed to surrender his financial interest in his family's home, several commercial properties and the condos in Aruba, Miami Beach and Las Vegas. In addition, he will have to give up several bank and investment accounts he and his wife, Antoinette, own. Also, several business debts owed to Bellettieri, some of them approaching $500,000, will be forfeited to the government for repayment to Bellettieri's victims.

But not all of Bellettieri's victims will be looking for reimbursement. John Svirsky, a mortgage broker from Garrison, said he had one client who lost nearly $1 million as a result of a bounced check from Bellettieri in December. But two banks involved in the deal, Chase and Wachovia, stepped in to make his client whole.

Svirsky, a mortgage broker for 26 years, said he had dealt with Bellettieri's firm for years without a hitch before the December deal. He praised Tara Laudonio, a partner in the firm, saying she was an excellent lawyer who was devastated by the recent turn of events.

Svirsky said he was shocked by Bellettieri's crimes, saying he knew and liked him, occasionally having lunch with him and another partner in the firm, Robert Fonte.

"They were the epitome of excellence," he said.

He said Bellettieri called him in December after news broke of the investigation by the FBI's White Plains office.

"He said, if any checks bounced, to just give him a call on his cell phone and redeposit them," he said. "Unfortunately, one did bounce. And when I called, he didn't answer."

Reach Timothy O'Connor at tpoconnor@lohud.com or 914-694-3523.