In a stunning admission, New York attorney Mark J. Nussbaum has stated under penalty of perjury that he transferred approximately $336.7 million out of his clients’ trust accounts without their knowledge or consent as part of a multi-year Ponzi scheme. The confession came in a signed affirmation, filed in New York County Supreme Court, that lays bare the mechanics of a massive fraud that has led to his arrest and the collapse of his law firms.
“From mid-2022 until early mid-2025, I transferred approximately $336,731,000 of monies belonging to the Creditors out of my law firm IOLA Account,” Nussbaum stated in the document dated January 27, 2026. He affirmed that the funds were moved to bank accounts controlled by his now-deceased business partner, Mendel Steiner, a Brooklyn businessman. “There was no consideration or business reason for any of these transfers,” Nussbaum admitted.
The scheme involved luring 52 clients, referred to as “Creditors,” into depositing over $437 million into his firm’s trust accounts. Nussbaum described how these clients were presented with “fictitious investment opportunities regarding supposed ‘proof of funds’ transactions or purchases of real property that did not really exist.” In a classic Ponzi structure, he explained that “new Creditor monies coming into the IOLA Account were used to return some of the original Creditors’ deposits.”
The stolen funds were primarily funneled to two companies, Real Green Management Corp. and Aven Realty 1 LLC, which Nussbaum understood were controlled by Steiner. An additional $24 million was transferred directly to Steiner or his family members. The money was allegedly used to finance the Steiner family’s real estate ventures.
Nussbaum, who was arrested in May 2025 and charged with first-degree grand larceny, submitted the affirmation as part of his cooperation with the court-appointed assignee, ABCMN LLC, which is tasked with recovering the stolen funds for the victims. He confirmed the accuracy of the legal complaint against him, stating, “the Complaint is true, and the numbers are consistent with my recollection.”
The case is now proceeding as an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a legal process to liquidate the assets of Nussbaum’s now-defunct law firms, Nussbaum Lowinger LLP and Mark J. Nussbaum & Associates, PLLC, to repay the 52 defrauded clients. The scheme began to unravel in early 2025, a collapse marked by the suicide of Steiner on January 9, 2025, months before the full extent of the fraud would be detailed in court filings.
