Bogus lawyer stole $1.7M, gets 7 years

A con man who passed himself off as an attorney was sentenced in federal district court yesterday to 7 1/2 years behind bars in connection with a scheme to bilk homeowners, lenders, title-insurance companies and the city of Philadelphia of $1.7 million.

Jason Bloom, 39, of Mount Laurel, N.J., has been in federal custody since he pleaded guilty on July 13 to wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

Authorities said that Bloom, from at least March 2004 through January 2008, acted as a settlement and title-insurance agent for real-estate sales and refinancings for a firm in Trevose, Bucks County, and, later, his own company.

Bloom kept money he received from settlements that was supposed to be used to pay off existing mortgages, pay real-estate taxes in Philadelphia and make refunds to homeowners for overpayments at closings.

U.S. District Judge Curtis Joyner scolded Bloom: "You took advantage and kept taking advantage to the tune of $1.7 million. You had no compassion or thought for your victims."

Defense attorney Jeffrey A. Sigman argued that Bloom's misdeeds resulted, in part, from numerous illnesses he suffered, including depression, bipolar disorder and an addiction to gambling.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Judy Goldstein Smith said that Bloom's "true addiction was to greed."

Court testimony revealed that Bloom had used some of the purloined funds to lease luxury suites for Flyers and Sixers games, to pay his mortgage and to lease a Mercedes SUV and station wagon.

When Joyner said that he was "flabbergasted" that Bloom had gotten away with his scheme for so long, Smith observed that Bloom, who had two state convictions in 2001 for forgery and bad checks, was "a very good con."

The government's plea memo said that Bloom told his employer in 2002 that he had graduated from Rutgers Law School and passed the state bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (He actually had dropped out of law school after a year.)

By pretending to be an attorney, Bloom increased the number of settlements that he could handle. Some jurisdictions in New Jersey permit only attorneys to handle real-estate closings.

Sigman said outside the courtroom that Bloom once conned a municipal judge in Camden into letting him represent a drug defendant on a motion to suppress evidence.

Authorities said that in order to prevent his scheme from being uncovered, Bloom made payments to financial institutions, knowing that the checks would be returned due to insufficient funds.

In one case, he sent Citimortgage a check for $241,107 on a refinancing of property in Sea Isle City, N.J. When the check was returned, Bloom sent a second check that was also returned because the account was closed.

The government's plea memo said that since Citimortgage thought the check was from an attorney, and because Bloom was convincing, Citimortgage released the lien on the property and a third check that Bloom sent bounced.

Joyner ordered Bloom to make restitution of $1,730,874 to three title-insurance companies, two financial firms and the city. (Homeowners ripped off have already been made whole, the feds said.)