Grant pleads not guilty at arraignment

Authorities say former local businessman stole more than $1.3 million from clients

Dean Grant

 by Billy Hobbs

A 54-year-old former Milledgeville businessman, accused of stealing more than $1.3 million from clients while working as a financial advisor, pleaded not guilty to 23 felony criminal charges Monday in Baldwin County Superior Court.

Dean Harrison Grant, who formerly lived and worked in Milledgeville and now resides in Roswell, Ga., entered his plea during an arraignment hearing. Grant was represented at the hearing by his attorney, Carl Cansino, of Milledgeville.

Grant, who was arrested for the alleged crimes and who served several days in the Baldwin County Law Enforcement Center, was indicted last November by a grand jury in Baldwin County.

Grand jurors indicted Grant on two counts of trafficking an elder person by financial exploitation, 10 counts of insurance fraud, nine counts of theft by taking, and one count of forgery in the first-degree, according to records filed in the Baldwin County Superior Court Clerk’s Office.

Grant was released from jail after posting a $750,000 bond on March 15 last year.

“This devious individual stole more than $1.3 million of hard-earned money from Georgians,” said Georgia Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King. “These victims put their trust in him, and in some cases, their livelihood. He abused that trust and left the victims out to dry. This should serve as an example to all of the people who feel they are above the law; these heinous acts will not be tolerated in this state.”

King’s comments were disseminated to media outlets in a press release after grand jurors returned the 23-count indictment against Grant.

Grant was the founder and managing partner of GIF Strategic Advisors, located at 136 W. McIntosh St., Suite A in Milledgeville.

He was taken into custody on charges last February.

At that time, the state’s insurance and safety fire commissioner said Grant was accused of receiving a total of $589,384.33 from three of his victims. The money was reportedly given to Grant for him to secure insurance-related investments, a total of $447,589.26 of which was taken from two elderly customers.

“He did not obtain any insurance investments with the money he received from his customers and instead used it for personal benefit,” King said in the press release.

Later, Grant was charged with seven other additional counts of insurance fraud and seven counts of theft by taking (fiduciary), according to the state official.

“He was accused of taking an additional $785,000 from three customers for him to secure insurance-related investments, bringing the total monetary value received from the victims to $1,374,384.33,” King said.

The case was jointly investigated by Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Detective Capt. Brad King and Special Agent Jason S. Jones with the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s Office.

The sheriff’s office learned of the questionable activities involving the suspect in November 2017.

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Grant pleads not guilty at arraignment

Former attorney sentenced to four years in state prison

Albert Boasberg

More than three years after suspicions were raised about an attorney who failed to pay for the long-term care for a 92-year-old woman and her disabled and dependent son, the 83-year-old Daly City resident who once served as the mother and son’s power of attorney was sentenced to four years in state prison on convictions of felony elder fiscal abuse and one count of insurance fraud.

In delivering Albert Boasberg’s sentence Friday, Judge Stephanie Garratt said she felt heartbroken for the male victim, who is in his 60s and living at the Burlingame Long Term Care Center, and the life he will live after someone he considered a close friend squandered funds his mother saved for his care.

Acting as the financial and medical power of attorney for the elderly woman, who is living with dementia at the Marymount Greenhills Retirement Center in Millbrae, as well as her son, Boasberg is said to have embezzled nearly $460,000 from the woman and her son between 2010 and 2014.

Instead of helping the 63-year-old man maintain the level of care he was supposed to receive, Boasberg had him sign over everything he had so the attorney could take trips to Canada and the Philippines and pay off credit card debt he and his wife accrued, noted Garratt. She added the man could not later offer an explanation as to why he would cede his assets to Boasberg to his own detriment and did not understand what was going on at the time.

Having attempted to end his life in August, the man who once considered Boasberg a friend will now likely never leave the care facility because the attorney acted in his own self-interest, she noted.

“This person is living in hell and probably will for the rest of his life,” she said. “It comes down to greed and that’s all it is.”

Boasberg is believed to have filled out 12 life insurance applications using false information about the man’s medical history and listing himself as the beneficiary. He also allegedly stole some $17,000 from the man’s mother over the course of four years and used the funds he took for personal reasons, including diversion of some $100,000 to his wife’s home country, the Philippines, and luxury vacations in Las Vegas, prosecutors said previously.

The thefts were discovered when both facilities, where the victims receive 24-hour care, reported his failure to make monthly payments for their care to the county Health System’s Adult Protective Services, which resulted in his removal as the victims’ power of attorney in 2015. The county’s Public Guardian has been the victims’ conservator after Boasberg was removed as their attorney, according to prosecutors previously.

Released on his own recognizance after his July 10 plea deal, Boasberg was given an opportunity to make progress on the restitution he would owe the victims, noted Deputy District Attorney Kristin Nimau. But he was remanded back into custody in August after it was discovered he violated a condition of his release from custody by practicing law with elderly clients and had surrendered an expired passport instead of a valid one.

Boasberg faced a three-year prison term when he pleaded to his charges in July, and his defense attorney Adam Gasner asked Garratt to consider the maximum sentence once set for his client just before he was sentenced Friday. Gasner acknowledged the egregious nature of his client’s actions, and noted Boasberg is remorseful for his behavior with regard to the victims as well as in violating the terms of his release earlier this year, when he was winding down his legal practice.

Having taken on several pro bono cases in his 60 years as a lawyer in California, Boasberg is a man of advanced aging with non-violent convictions and who is committed to making the victims whole again, said Gasner, who noted several character letters had been submitted on behalf of his client. At 83 years old, Boasberg is a first-time offender likely to suffer physically in a prison environment, where he will serve his sentence those who have committed serious, violent crimes and been in and out of prison, he said.

“He took advantage of a position of trust with a client and friend,” he said. “The reality is there is a totality here and there are other characteristics of the defendant that shouldn’t be overlooked.”

Nimau said Boasberg’s actions left the victim in a depressive state and with few options for his required 24-hour care, noting Boasberg squandered the opportunity to return some of the funds he stole from him. In advocating for a four-year prison sentence, Nimau underscored the permanence of Boasberg’s actions.

“The financial harm Mr. Boasberg has inflicted on both victims in this case is irreparable,” she said. “They will live with this harm for the rest of their lives.”

Boasberg, who will receive 376 days credit for time served, said he was sorry and remorseful for his actions and appeared to wince when Garratt rebuked him for living the high life with his wife at the expense of the victims, to whom he is expected to pay $456,782 in restitution.

“It may be non-violent but it certainly isn’t non-serious,” said Garratt. “The level of greed here is disgusting.”

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Former attorney sentenced to four years in state prison

MN Attorney, Linda Brost, Disbarred After Stealing $43,000 of Client Money and Stealing His Identity

A St. Paul attorney has been disbarred for stealing her client’s money and identity, the Minnesota Supreme Court said in an order Wednesday.

Linda Brost, 62, who now lives in Spooner, Wis., stole $43,000 and failed to cooperate in an investigation by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, which filed a disciplinary petition against her in December 2013.
 

Brost’s troubles started in 2009, when she was suspended indefinitely for using the expired notary stamp of a dead person to fraudulently notarize her own signature on a trust certificate for a client. She later submitted the document to a bank, the petition alleged.
 

Brost’s theft started with a will she drafted for Arthur Fischbach, who died Sept. 11, 2005. Around the time Fischbach died, Brost altered the date on her dead husband’s expired notary stamp and forged his signature to notarize her own signature on a certificate of trust prepared for Fischbach.

After he died, she presented the fraudulently notarized document to BankCherokee in a failed effort to access Fischbach’s funds, which totaled about $140,000.
 

She also obtained $43,000 from Fischbach’s insurance company by making false statements and stealing his identity.
 

In March 2009, after learning of these events, the Minnesota Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Brost from practicing law. Brost then allegedly set up an e-mail account in Fischbach’s name and had his mail redirected to a house she owns in St. Paul. She also opened a checking account in his name in February 2011, six years after his death, and wrote letters purportedly from him as she tried to tap his money, authorities said.
 

Last year, criminal charges were filed against Brost for theft by swindle, identity theft, and aggravated forgery of a document and insurance fraud. She pleaded guilty.

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St. Paul Lawyer Disbarred for Theft, Fraud

Judge Accused of Lying Suspended With Pay

A Seneca County judge indicted on charges that he lied about a 2013 beating outside of court has been suspended with pay.

The New York Court of Appeals' suspension of Honorable Roger W. Barto, acting justice of the Waterloo Village Court, was effective on July 16 — the day of the ruling.

Barto is accused of lying about a 2013 beating  outside court, falsely collecting insurance money and stealing gas from the Seneca County village.

The Seneca County District Attorney's Office unsealed a nine-count indictment charging Barto with five felonies and four misdemeanors stemming from the August 13, 2013 incident.

Barto told police that he was attacked from behind as he locked up Waterloo Village Court after an arraignment. Specifically, he claimed he'd been choked and hit on the head with a toilet tank lid left in a nearby garbage container during building renovations.

Barto allegedly lied about the encounter and also on insurance forms several days later, according to court documents, and is accused of collecting more than $3,000 in medical benefits through mid-June.

He's also accused of stealing gasoline that belonged to the village at Maple Grove Cemetery, according to Seneca County District Attorney Barry Porsch.

Barto pleaded not guilty in Seneca County Court to the indictment, which includes third-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree corrupting the government, third-degree insurance fraud, first-degree falsifying business records and defrauding the government, all felonies. He's also facing charges of third-degree falsely reporting an incident, petit larceny and two counts of official misconduct, all misdemeanors.

He was released on his own recognizance and is slated to return to court Aug. 11.

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Judge Accused of Lying Suspended With Pay