MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp announces that Neil Gross, 47, Livingston, has been sentenced on charges of Theft (second degree), Unauthorized Practice of Law (third degree) and Bad Checks (third degree).
Gross is a former partner in the Mount Olive law firm of Ward & Gross.
Gross was sentenced by the Honorable Stephen J. Taylor, P.J.Cr. to three years in State Prison on the charge of Theft (second degree) with concurrent three year sentences on the charges of Unauthorized Practice of Law (third degree) and Bad Checks (third degree).
This matter was referred to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office from the New Jersey Lawyer’s Fund for Client Protection. An investigation by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit disclosed that while Gross was suspended from the practice of law, he conducted real estate transactions for clients. In one transaction, Gross received $150,000.00 into his Trust account to hold pending receipt of a Tax Clearance Certificate. Gross immediately began to withdraw those funds and convert them to his own personal use.
Gross was suspended from practicing law in October 2012 and subsequently disbarred in October 2014 for a series of violations of professional conduct.
Criminal charges against Gross were signed on October 23, 2015, by Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Joseph Soulias and the matter was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Michael Rappa.
Prosecutor Knapp thanks the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit, whose efforts contributed to this result.
Gross was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1994. He was also temporarily suspended on February 28, 2011, for failure to cooperate with a disciplinary investigation.
You can read more on a Disciplinary Review Board decision, by clicking here.
