Ex-attorney admits massive $1M theft from dozens of NJ clients

⚪Ex-attorney admits cheating NJ clients

⚪NJ man took money for work never done

⚪Dozens of victims found, over $1M in losses

A 49-year-old real estate attorney has admitted to stealing more than $1 million from at least 60 clients, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced Wednesday.

Steven H. Salami, of Hazlet, pleaded guilty in Monmouth County Superior Court to a charge of second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity.

Salami was disbarred in December 2019.

A LinkedIn profile says Salami “retired” as an attorney in October 2019 — the same month that charges were first announced against him.

The initial investigation focused on four victims who were scammed out of nearly $300,000 that year from April through August 2019.

Salami took money from each victim for real estate transactions, putting the funds in escrow, and then not doing the work he was paid to do.

Missed closing dates and nullified transactions for the victims, among other issues, resulted.

Following Salami’s August 2019 arrest, a continuing investigation uncovered dozens more victims — leading to a 63-count indictment returned by a Monmouth County Grand Jury in July 2021.

Read More: Somerset County man accused of ripping off investors over $1M

The case was then put on hold until November 2023.

The Superior Court Appellate Division granted the state’s appeal to restore two counts of the indictment, which had previously been dismissed by a lower court.

Sentencing was slated for Jan. 17, 2025 — at which time prosecutors would seek a 10-year prison term.

They would also ask that Salami be ordered to pay back more than $1 million paid out by the New Jersey Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, which already reimbursed the victims.

The LFCP's $1.57 million payout to Salami's clients was among the largest in recent history, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.

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