CPA Steals $830K From Vulnerable Clients

By Carina Livoti

clivoti@longislandergroup.com

Pictured: Scott Meyer.

A local CPA is facing 5-15 years in state prison after pleading guilty to stealing over $800,000 from three vulnerable clients and more than $30,000 from Nob Hill Condominium, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

The plea was made March 31, the day jury selection for his trial was scheduled to start.

Scott Meyer, formerly a partner of Huntington accounting firm Johnson and Meyer, stole approximately $427,000 from a Huntington nonprofit organization by writing checks to himself, DA spokesman Robert Clifford said.

According to Clifford, Meyer took advantage of the fact that the president of the organization’s board of trustees was legally blind. After that president retired, Meyer continued to write checks to himself, forging the signature of the new president.

Meyer also admitted to stealing more than $150,000 from an 80-year-old Greenport resident who was suffering from dementia. Clifford said that Meyer stole the money by either writing checks to himself or transferring funds from the victim’s account to his own.

The CPA employed the same strategy when he stole over $240,000 from another victim. The second victim is in his 60s, is disabled, and lives in an assisted living facility in California, according to the DA’s office.

Meyer also pleaded guilty to stealing over $30,000 from Nob Hill Condominium. The Nob Hill Board of Managers caught wind of Meyer’s first arrest an ordered an audit, as Meyer was their accountant. The audit found that the CPA not only stole money, but also falsified business records to conceal his theft, Clifford said.

The DA’s office noted that Meyer has two prior felony convictions from 2007, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misappropriation of insurance funds and misappropriation of insurance funds in federal court. His CPA license was suspended after the conviction, however the New York State Department of Education reinstated it in the time since.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 6.