Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of BRYAN A. MCKENNA, a former real estate attorney, for stealing more than $4.4 million from the escrow account of a company buying latex gloves during the pandemic, and more than $260,000 from two clients he represented in real estate transactions. MCKENNA pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree and one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. He is expected to be sentenced on January 27, 2026, to the court’s promised sentence of 2-to-6 years in state prison.

“This plea and expected prison sentence demonstrate the seriousness with which my office treats fraud targeting New Yorkers,” said District Attorney Bragg. “From real estate clients to a company purchasing hard-to-find medical gloves during the pandemic, Bryan McKenna repeatedly drained the accounts of those who looked to him for legal representation. If you have been similarly defrauded by an attorney, please contact our Financial Frauds Bureau at 212-335-8900.”

According to court documents and statements made on the record, and as admitted in his guilty plea, in March 2021, MCKENNA represented a woman in the sale of her Manhattan condo. MCKENNA received $1,149,900 – the proceeds of the sale – in his attorney escrow account. His client directed that MCKENNA pay her $835,000, and withhold $184,600 in escrow to pay the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) the capital gains tax owed for the sale of the property. She soon learned that her tax liability was reduced by approximately $24,000 and instructed MCKENNA pay her that sum. He did so, but never paid the remaining $160,000 to either the IRS or his client, instead transferring the funds to his own bank account.

In October 2023, MCKENNA represented a man in the sale of his Brooklyn townhouse and received $762,000 – the proceeds of the sale – in his attorney escrow account. As the client directed, MCKENNA used the proceeds to pay off two of the clients’ mortgage loans, totaling $653,000. However, MCKENNA never paid the client the remaining balance of $109,000, instead draining the account and transferring the funds to his own bank account.

In December 2023, MCKENNA voluntarily agreed to resign from the New York State Bar.

During the course of the investigation, the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s Financial Frauds Bureau uncovered another fraud. According to court documents and statements made on the record, and as admitted in his guilty plea, between February 1, 2021, and April 8, 2021, MCKENNA stole more than $4.4 million dollars from his attorney escrow account for a company that intended to purchase 500,000 boxes of latex gloves during the pandemic. Although the seller never delivered the medical-grade gloves, MCKENNA drained his client’s funds entirely, emptying the account by April 9, 2021.

Assistant D.A. Jonathan Borle is handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Hope Korenstein (Deputy Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau) and Kofi Sansculotte (Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau), and Executive Assistant D.A. Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division). Investigators Antonio Puentes, Frank Toro and Sofia Gomez assisted with the investigation. Analysts Jade Yang and Max Stahl, Paralegal Varun Gaitonde, and Discovery Analyst Rebecca Seunarine provided valuable assistance.  

• Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony, one count

  Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, one count

###