An 82-year-old attorney who pleaded no contest to two counts of felony elder fiscal abuse and one count of insurance fraud in July is back in custody on no bail after prosecutors found he violated a condition of his release from custody by practicing law with elderly clients, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Daly City resident Albert Boasberg also allegedly surrendered an expired passport instead of a valid one, which he still had in his possession, and violated another condition of his release on his own recognizance. He does not face new criminal charges, but was remanded into custody Friday and will next appear in court Tuesday for his defense attorney’s response and the court’s ruling, according to prosecutors.
Charged in late May after a yearslong investigation, Boasberg will face three years in state prison when he returns to court Jan. 11 for sentencing. Boasberg is said to have embezzled more than $460,000 from a 92-year-old woman and her disabled and dependent son over four years, according to prosecutors.
Initially the family’s attorney, Boasberg eventually became the financial and medical power of attorney for the elderly woman, who is living with dementia at the Marymount Greenhills Retirement Center in Millbrae, as well as her son, who is in his 60s and living at the Burlingame Long Term Care Center. He allegedly filled out 12 life insurance applications using false information about the man’s medical history and listing himself as the beneficiary. He also allegedly stole some $17,000 from the man’s mother between 2010 and 2014, according to prosecutors.
The thefts were discovered when both facilities, where the victims receive 24-hour care, reported his failure to make monthly payments for their care to the county Health System’s Adult Protective Services, which resulted in his removal as the victims’ power of attorney in 2015. The county’s Public Guardian has been the victims’ conservator after Boasberg was removed as their attorney, according to prosecutors.
Boasberg is believed to have used the funds for personal reasons, including diversion of some $100,000 to his wife’s home country, the Philippines, and luxury vacations in Las Vegas, according to prosecutors.
Boasberg’s defense attorney Adam Gasner said previously his client took responsibility for the lapse of judgment, and, with no home or retirement savings to his name, planned to sell the few assets he has and borrow from family members to make restitution payments.
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