Fake Bushwick Law Office Conned Inmates' Families, Says DA

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — A con man posing as a lawyer in Bushwick promised clients thousands of dollars to help overturn convictions, then did nothing and ignored their pleas for help, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney.

Kenneth Moore, 53, was arraigned on 75 grand larceny and fraud charges for running a Bushwick law office without a licence and charging clients up to $15,000 for post-conviction services he never provided, prosecutors said.

Moore ran his business — Waymore Post-Conviction, LLC. — out of an office at 10 Goodwin Place from April 1, 2012, and August 31, 2016, prosecutors said.

The pseudo-attorney met clients in the office and also wrote letters to inmates serving life sentences for murder in New York, Kansas, North Carolina and other states, offering to file post-conviction motions for them, prosecutors said.

Moore got the inmates to sign contracts and set up payment plans — usually charging family members about $10,000 for his services — but refused to begin working until 80 percent was paid, prosecutors said.

Families who managed to pay the fee were unlikely to receive help, as Moore only filed post-conviction motions for two inmates and, in those cases, used the forged signature of an attorney, said prosecutors.

Moore also told families they needed to pay for an expert witness then pocketed the cash, according to prosecutors.

One inmate was about to to sign on with the Innocence Project — a nonprofit organization that helps overturn wrongful convictions for free — but Moore persuaded the man to hire him instead, said prosecutors.

When his clients started complaining that they’d paid him thousands of dollars and seen no results, he stopped returning their phone calls and changed his number, according to the indictment.

Moore, who lives in Glendale, Queens, was arraigned on 75 counts of grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, scheme to defraud, unauthorized practice of a profession, forgery, and criminal mischief in Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday, prosecutors said.

The Queens man was held on a $150,000 cash bond and is expected to return to court on May 16, said prosecutors.

Moore could spend up to seven years in prison if convicted.

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