QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A disbarred attorney stole $1 million from a church in Astoria and will serve prison time, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Friday.
Former New York City attorney Debra Hoskins, 70, was sentenced to one to three years in prison after pleading guilty to grand larceny, according to court documents.
“As an attorney, the defendant was expected to conduct herself with integrity,” District Attorney Katz said. “Instead of upholding the law and properly stewarding this church’s funds, she sought to enrich herself. For this admitted breach of public trust, she will now serve one to three years in prison.”
According to investigations conducted in 2018 and 2020, Hoskins improperly accessed escrow funds from a real estate deal involving the House of Prayer and Deliverance Ministries, Inc., and misled the church pastor to delay discovery of her crime.
The pastor of the church had hired Hoskins to dissolve the church’s corporation, oversee its property sale, and disburse the proceeds, court documents said.
In May 2018, when church property was sold, Hoskins received a $1,019,394.65 escrow check after closing. The check was later deposited into a lawyer’s bank account controlled by Hoskins, court documents said.
In 2018 and 2020, following the sale of the property, the church pastor questioned Hoskins regarding the funds. Hoskins said court approval was needed for disbursement. In 2020, Hoskins filed a false affidavit claiming that $1,110,789.65 was in escrow, court documents said.
The pastor of the Queens church then filed a motion to have the funds disbursed, and a 2021 court order mandated the same. An investigation by the DA’s office found that the escrow account was depleted by more than $200,000 as of October 2018.
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After the defendant deposited the church’s check in June 2018, the escrow account never reached back to $1 million. When Hoskins filed the fraudulent affidavit, years after the property was sold, the balance was about $19,000, court documents said.
The church ultimately only received $20,000 from the real estate deal, according to court documents.
Hoskins was later disbarred in December 2023 on an unrelated matter, officials say.
Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.
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