Two Queens, New York, Attorneys, Arelia Taveras and Mark Jacobs, Face Jail Time for Stealing from Clients

Two attorneys have been charged by the Queens New York District Attorney's office for stealing clients money from their respective escrow accounts by keeping money that was supposed to be returned to the clients.

Both attorneys are now disbarred and are facing criminal charges.

They have been identified as Arelia Taveras, 46 who now lives in Bloomington, Minnesota and Mark Jacobs, 58, of Glen Head, New York.
In the case of Taveras, she is accused of stealing a total of $99,142 from four different clients. She faces 3 counts of third-degree grand larceny as well as second-degree forgery, a charge of submitting a false document for filing in the first degree and last but not least scheming to defraud.

The criminal complaint against Taveras alleges that she accepted$2,500 from a real estate buyer deposit and then took $22,500 more for a down payment on a co op in the Bayside section of Queens that Traveras was selling. The complaint goes on to allege that when the client's application was turned down by the board of the co op, she asked for her deposit money to be returned, but Taveras refused. The complaint goes on to say that after the client made many requests for the return of her money, Taveras' lawyer contacted her and said that the money would not be repaid and that Taveras was in a rehab center in Colorado

It also alleges that Traveras stole from three other clients. In one of the cases, the client retained Traveras' services in a real estate deal and did not release $10,000 that she was holding in escrow for the client.

With the next client, the complaint alleges that Traveras kept $30,000 of the clients money in another real estate transaction.

And with the last client, it is alleged that she stole $34,142 from him in connection with a divorce case.

It is also alleged that Taveras made a videotaped statement in regards to one of the allegations and in that statement she said she took the money because she had a gambling problem and she was very remorseful