DA: Advisor Embezzled Over $25K From College Friend's Trust Fund

By PAIGE MCATEE (Patch Staff)

A financial planner from Oyster Bay is being accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a longtime friend’s life insurance trust account, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced Wednesday.

Steven Klein, 62, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly embezzling $25,780 from The Daren J. Tuchband Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust account.

Klein has been friends with account holder Daren Tuchband and her husband Jerald Tuchband, both of Nanuet, since their college days more than 45 years ago.

Klein was able to control her account as a trustee and signatory as a financial planner, the DA reports.

According to the DA, Klein transferred money from Tuchband’s trust fund into his own accounts, mainly an account for his financial planning business, JASAM Financial.

He used the stolen funds to pay for supermarkets, book stores, pharmacies, and for his automobile lease, LIPA and AOL accounts, the DA reports.

He allegedly embezzled money from her account from April 12, 2007 to Nov. 14, 2013.

In order to pay premiums on the trust’s policy after he stole from the Tuchband fund, the DA reports that Klein took out loans, a total of $11,018.99 plus interest, from a life insurance company against the cash surrender value of the policy.

The Tuchbands discovered Klein’s alleged transactions and were unsuccessful in getting the money back from him, which let them to file a complaint with the DA.

Klein was arrested Wednesday and charged with third degree grand larceny. He could face up to seven years in prison, according to the DA.

Singas urges residents to keep track of their checking accounts. “Financial planners who abuse the trust placed in them by their clients will be held accountable by my office for their crimes,” she said.

Image via Nassau County District Attorney’s Office