PLG attorney convicted of lying to
Feds about property-sale scheme
The Rockaway Theatre Company, Inc.
proudly presents the hilarious comedy:
COURIER LIFE, M 6 ARCH 29–APRIL 4, 2019 PS
Written by Ken Ludwig
Directed by Peggy Page Press & Michael Wotypka
March 29, 30, Apr. 5, 6, 12 & 13 @ 8:00PM
March 31, April 7 & 14 @ 2:00PM
Ticket Prices: Adults- $20. Seniors/Children-$15.
All performances- Post Theater, Bldg. T4, Ft. Tilden, NY
Tickets may be purchased online thru Brown Paper tickets or
At our website:www.rockawaytheatrecompany.org
This program is supported, in part, by discretionary funding from the office of Councilman Erich Ulrich.
5 0 1 U N I O N
( G O W A N U S , B R O O K L Y N )
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
A crooked Prospect-Lefferts
Gardens lawyer faces up to
20 years in prison for lying to
the Feds to help her aunt avoid
paying millions of dollars she
owed to the government, according
to the U.S. Attorney
for the Eastern District of
New York.
“As proved at trial, she violated
her oath as an attorney
by participating in a corrupt
scheme to impede the collection
of forfeiture and restitution
owed to the government
by her client,” Richard Donoghue
said on March 20.
A jury convicted attorney
Lydia Hills of obstructing an
offi cial proceeding, following
a three-day trial in which
prosecutors described how
she requested that the U.S.
Attorney’s offi ce remove a
lien against four of her aunt’s
Queens properties. The Feds
imposed the lien after convicting
Hills’s aunt of conspiracy
to commit wire and
bank fraud in 2010, when a
judge sentenced her to more
than fi ve years in prison, and
ordered her to pay more than
$17 million in restitution.
Hills — who was working
as a real-estate broker to help
her aunt sell the properties
— in March 2016 sent a letter
requesting offi cials remove
the lien, according to prosecutors,
who alleged the attorney
falsely claimed her aunt
would not benefi t from selling
her properties, because
she would use funds from the
sales to pay off mortgages
on the homes as part of a
“short sale.”
But by the time she sent
the missive, Hills had already
conspired with her aunt to secretly
sell one of the properties
in a scheme that would
allow both of them to pocket
the cash proceeds, and hide
the money from the Feds, according
to information from
the U.S. Attorney’s offi ce.
In April 2016, Hills and
her aunt met the buyer — who
was doubling as a confi dential
source for the Federal Bureau
of Investigation — to close
the deal.
The buyer-source handed
over a bag with $25,000 in
cash for one of the properties,
plus another $8,100 for Hills’s
broker fee, according to information
from the U.S. Attorney’s
offi ce, which noted that
the federal agency recorded
the closing and caught Hills
telling the buyer she was worried
that the Feds would fi nd
out about her scheme.
“I’m afraid. I’m an attorney
… I don’t want her to
say something … The wrong
thing on the phone one day
and it’s being recorded and
I’m screwed,” Hills said.
Hills’s sentencing is set for
July 9, according to a spokesman
for the U.S. Attorney’s
offi ce, who said the Feds indicted
her aunt for the scheme,
but later dropped the charges
against her because she
was found not competent to
stand trial.
The corrupt local attorney
has yet to be disbarred, according
to a law-enforcement
source.
CONVICTED: Prospect-Lefferts Gardens attorney and real-estate broker
Lydia Hills faces up to 20 years in prison, after a jury convicted her of
lying to the Feds to help her aunt avoid paying thousands of dollars she
owed to the federal government. U.S. Attorney’s offi ce
/www.rockawaytheatrecompany.org