Former law firm employee sentenced for stealing more than $500,000 from trust accounts of beneficiaries with special needs

A Hempstead woman was sentenced Friday to up to 3 years in prison for stealing more than a half-million dollars from a law firm that was a trustee to seven accounts established to care for individuals with special needs, including a wheelchair bound stroke victim, Nassau prosecutors said.

Michelle Byrd, 55, pleaded guilty in April to one count of second-degree grand larceny and seven counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.

On Friday, Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty sentenced Byrd to 1 to 3 years in prison. Byrd paid $106,287 in restitution to the law firm, and more than $420,000 in judgment orders were issued for the law firm’s insurance company.

"Michelle Byrd had a duty as a case manager for seven trusts to protect the firm’s vulnerable clients and manage their finances appropriately and carefully to ensure that their needs were met," said Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly. "Instead, this defendant acted only in her own self-interest, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly and special needs clients to finance her lifestyle."

Donnelly said Byrd's "despicable and unconscionable theft forced a wheelchair-bound stroke victim to sell his home because of the financial losses he suffered. Byrd violated her ethical obligations and the trust of the clients she was supposed to serve and will now forfeit her funds and freedom to pay for her crimes."

Xavier Donaldson, Byrd's Manhattan-based defense attorney, said his client "takes full responsibility for her conduct. She stands contrite and wishes to apologize to her family, her community, the victims and anyone negatively affected by her conduct."

Byrd worked for an undisclosed Nassau law firm that manages trusts for special needs clients. An attorney at the firm served as a trustee on accounts assisting seven clients and was authorized to make payments and manage the individual's bank accounts and transactions. Byrd was a salaried case manager in regular contact with trust beneficiaries regarding their financial needs, prosecutors sad.

From April 2014 through April 2021, prosecutors said Byrd wrote hundreds of checks to herself from the seven accounts totaling $526,553 and forged bank statements to conceal the theft. 

Many of the checks were forged with both the trustee’s signature and the trustee’s signature stamp, which the firm utilized during the pandemic to allow for remote management of the accounts, officials said.

Byrd's thefts, prosecutors said, included:

• More than $60,000 from a trust that was set up to care for a wheelchair-bound stroke victim. The theft, prosecutors said, forced the victim to sell his home
• Nearly $28,000 from a trust established to care for a man with cerebral palsy living in a group home in New York City
• Almost $100,000 from a trust formed to help a woman who lost her limbs due to medical malpractice
• A total of $2,500 from a trust set up to care for an elderly nursing home resident
• Nearly $33,000 from a trust established to care for a developmentally disabled adult with cerebral palsy living in a Nassau group home
• More than $20,000 from a trust created to assist a woman who suffered from a medical episode similar to a stroke
• In excess of $40,000 from a trust formed to care for an elderly, developmentally disabled woman

Byrd's scheme was uncovered in 2021 after one of the accounts she helped manage was transferred to Chase and a bank representative emailed a handful of checks to the law firm’s controller for review. One of those emails showed a $2,500 check drawn on the trust payable to Byrd allegedly signed by the trustee, prosecutors said. 

The trustee reviewed the fraudulent transaction and the check was canceled, authorities said.

The law firm fired Byrd and, following an internal review, referred the matter to prosecutors. Byrd was arrested last year.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.