A Long Island real estate attorney was sentenced Wednesday to up to 10.5 years in prison for embezzling nearly $1.8 million from clients and using the money to fund his lavish lifestyle, authorities said.
Terrance Dougherty, 35, of Oyster Bay, pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to 13 counts of grand larceny and one count of scheme to defraud.
Prosecutors said he stole the money from the escrow accounts of at least 32 clients, whom he represented in the sale and purchase of properties.
Between March 2021 and November 2024, Dougherty deposited nearly $1.8 million from real estate transactions into an attorney trust account he maintained. By Nov. 29, 2024, the balance in that account was just over $5, prosecutors said.
An investigation found that Dougherty took funds from the attorney account through cash withdrawals, transfers to another business checking account and multiple credit card accounts. The money was then used to pay for various personal expenses, including visits to nightclubs, stays at luxury hotels and dinners at expensive restaurants.
Dougherty was “living it up while his clients faced having nowhere to live,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said, calling him “a thief who blew through more than a million dollars, spending down the escrow funds in his business trust account until it was almost zeroed out.”
That included nearly $200,000 he spent at gentlemen’s clubs in New York City and on Long Island in just over five days.
“Terrance Dougherty is a disgrace to the legal profession, and he will find no luxury accommodations over the next decade in state prison,” Donnelly said.
Dougherty, who surrendered to authorities on April 30, was sentenced Wednesday to 3.5 to 10.5 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.8 million in restitution.
