On June 27, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that a Brooklyn woman had been indicted on multiple charges including grand larceny, identity theft, and practicing law without a license for pretending to be an attorney and defrauding three clients out of $4,700.
According to the District Attorney, Natasha Riley, 56, of Flatbush, Brooklyn, allegedly held herself out as a licensed attorney with an office at 150 Kenilworth Place in Flatbush for around two years. She adopted the last name of an actual attorney with the same first name in order to deceive prospective clients. The attorney contacted the District Attorney’s office after she found out that her name was being used.
Riley’s alleged victims include a college student who paid her to attend an academic hearing and to obtain a trademark for a nonprofit organization, a litigant in a divorce action, and a client involved in an employment negotiation.
She was ordered held on a $10,000 bond.
Riley is currently being detained at Rikers Island.