‘Classic con man’ sentenced to jail after bilking ‘clients’ out of $32G in law scam
A 48-year-old Boston man who posed as a lawyer with a Harvard pedigree was sent to prison yesterday after pleading guilty to bilking six people out of more than $32,000, prosecutors said.
David Koraca, also known as David Corazza, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to six counts of unauthorized practice of law, four counts of attempting to commit a crime, three counts of larceny over $250 by single scheme and one count each of larceny over $250, forgery and uttering.
“It’s clear that Mr. Koraca preyed upon people and exploited the trust of people ... for his own advancement,” Judge Mary K. Ames said in imposing the recommended sentence.
Koraca was arrested Nov. 23, 2015, after one of his victims, Farah Diba Sahnoun, told Boston police he had made unauthorized charges to her credit card. Their investigation led them to five other victims who also had hired him, believing he was a lawyer.
Sahnoun, 39, of East Boston said she met Koraca in November 2014 at a capital markets and investments course they were taking at Harvard. He introduced himself as David Corazza and said he had a law degree from Harvard and specialized in business and entertainment law, with clients including Mark Wahlberg, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, she said.
Koraca, who walks with a limp, also claimed that he was an Army veteran and that his limp was the result of jumping out of a helicopter during a two-year tour of duty in Iraq, said Assistant District Attorney Michele Granda. In fact, he is neither a veteran nor a lawyer, she said; he never even graduated from college.
“He’s a classic con man,” Granda said. “He likes to impress people by fabricating his qualifications.”
When Sahnoun filed for divorce in September 2015, Koraca offered to represent her, she said, but his scheme began to unravel when she discovered he had used her credit card for everything from rent to dry-cleaning to stays at the Harvard Clubs in Boston and New York.
When Sahnoun tried to confront him, she said, he suddenly stopped returning her calls and emails. Altogether, Koraca bilked her out of $14,235, she said, and she had to hire another lawyer to handle her divorce.
Koraca was sentenced to two to three years in state prison followed by three years probation with conditions that included making restitution to the victims, finding a job after his release and annually reporting his income.
“I’ve been living this nightmare for more than a year,” Sahnoun said. “His sentence seemed to be fair. But no money can compensate for the damage this has cost me and other people.”