Lawyer hit in theft of $650,000

A Brooklyn lawyer stole more than $650,000 from a retired couple who hired him to represent them in a real estate deal, prosecutors said.

Gerald Douglas, 50, of East Flatbush, was arraigned Thursday on a grand larceny charge after prosecutors said he withheld proceeds from a $1.7 million sale of a Bedford-Stuyvesant building owned by a retired couple.

According to Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez, Douglas represented a married couple ages 70 and 71 years old, at the closing of the sale of their property on Sept. 12, 2016, at which time he received checks totaling nearly $1.5 million, which, less the down payment, represented the balance owed.

But Douglas kept the funds, Gonzalez said depositing them into his escrow account. He was also in possession of a down payment of $170,000 that he received a month earlier.