Having pleaded guilty in October 2024 to stealing nearly $1.18 million from 60 of his clients, Steven Salami of Hazlet, N.J. was sentenced to a prison term of 10 years on Jan. 17., as announced by Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago.
The now-disbarred real estate attorney was also ordered to pay full restitution for the stolen funds back to the New Jersey Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, which had previously reimbursed his clients. Salami’s sentence was handed down by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Christie Bevacqua.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Lawrence Nelsen, director of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO) Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Unit.
The initial investigation into Salami’s activities, conducted by MCPO Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Unit, focused on four victims defrauded out of nearly $300,000 from April through August of 2019. In his capacity as an attorney, the investigation showed, Salami accepted funds from each victim for various real-estate transactions, putting the money in escrow, but he failed to do the work for which he was paid. These actions resulted in missed closing dates and nullified transactions for the victims, among other issues.
Following Salami’s August 2019 arrest, the investigation continued, uncovering dozens of additional victims and leading to a 63-count indictment being returned by a Monmouth County grand jury in July 2021. The case was then put on hiatus until the Superior Court Appellate Division in November 2023 granted the state’s appeal to restore two counts of the indictment that had been previously dismissed by a lower court.
Salami would eventually plead guilty to a charge of second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity.