Lesbian Attorney Who Won Custody of Daughter Now Disbarred

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Summary: A lesbian attorney who won custody of her adopted daughter was disbarred after entering a guilty plea for stealing money from clients.

A real estate attorney who convinced a court that she was the responsible parent in a lesbian custody battle may now be the problem. Attorney Allison Scollar, in a secret filing, pleaded guilty to scamming clients during the same time that the custody case was happening, according to a NY Daily News story.

  

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Scollar, 55, was the adoptive mother in the custody case, winning full rights of the child over the birth mother, 52-year-old Brook Altman. The custody battle began in 2010 with Scollar coming out the victor two years later in 2012.

Scollar was disbarred Thursday for her role in a scheme to defraud clients. The Daily News began an investigation into her criminal case since it went under the radar whereas the custody case received a great deal of publicity. They learned that in her desire to win custody of the child, Scollar allegedly paid an Israeli conman $125,000 to bribe the Family Court judge on the case.

The conman, who posed as an ex-Mossad agent, told Scollar that he could help with her problem by bribing the judge who would decide the custody. While the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not comment on the bribery allegations, Altman has repeatedly brought it up in court.

Altman, said of her ex, “At least I have a chance to raise a daughter who is not going to lie, cheat and steal. I’m sorry, but (our daughter’s) in the wrong home.” Altman gave birth to the girl Harri, who is now 11, after receiving a sperm donation from a friend.

Family Court Judge Gloria Sosa-Lintner gave custody to Scollar because she believed the attorney provided structure for the girl. Sosa-Lintner believed Altman was “self-centered and egotistical.” In the ruling, Sosa-Lintner wrote, “Altman, who is a film producer, is the freer spirit, more outwardly creative and more laid-back parent … She behaved more as a friend or older sister to the child than a responsible parent.”

The evidence Sosa-Lintner used to find Scollar as the “more fit” parent is questionable now since she was stealing money from clients at the same time. Scollar took roughly $2 million from her clients starting in June 2011, smack dab in the middle of the case.

By November 2015, the allegations against Scollar resulted in her pleading guilty to grand larceny and mortgage fraud but she did this under the name “Jane Doe.” She was ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution to the clients she was supposed to be helping with their real estate transactions.

The authorities were using Scollar to gain information on the others working the scheme with her, including David Katz, Jay Katz, and Eli Luski, the conman who claimed he was a former Mossad agent that quit after being punished for being too aggressive with terrorists. The three men apparently used attorney escrow accounts from 2010 to 2016 in their own scheme, stealing $5 million from those accounts.

Scollar claimed she “was the cooperating witness for the DA for many years. I did something right by taking very evil men off of the streets.” However, Jay Katz claims that Scollar played a different role in the scheme. He told the authorities that Scollar had a key part in the scheme and turned on them so she could get full custody of her daughter. Katz said, “She’s a CI. I don’t blame her. She’ll do anything Machiavellian. If that means throwing David and Jay under the bus to win her case, that’s what a mother will do. If she’d been found guilty, she would have lost custody. She did what she had to do.”

When the custody battle got brutal, Scollar turned to Katz for help. He put her in touch with Luski. Katz even states he was the one to deliver five checks from Scollar to Luski that totaled $125,000.

Katz, a disbarred attorney as well, and his brother served six months to a year for their scheme. Luski’s case is sealed but he died in 2017 at Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island.

Scollar will be  in the hot seat for her disbarment in the next custody hearing in April. She argues that Katz and Luski extorted money from her and that she never attempted to bribe a judge. Scollar said, “My daughter and I are hopeful the judge will see people make mistakes. My ex will put my daughter in harm’s way to win this battle. It’s all about winning for her.”

Do you think Scollar’s disbarment and guilty plea should affect the custody? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To learn more about disbarred attorneys, read these articles:

• Disbarred Attorney Paul Karan Pleads Guilty to Grand Larceny
• Mitchel Tarter Disbarred Following Real Estate Scam
• Former Skadden Partner Disbarred for Child Pornography

Photo: Facebook.com