In yet another example of a blue state fraudster finally being held accountable for pilfering millions and millions of dollars from taxpayers and companies during the pandemic, former real estate attorney Bryan McKenna was caught stealing millions of dollars from a company involved in providing much-needed latex gloves.
The guilty plea occurred back in July of 2025, but the sentencing hearing came in late March of 2026. It was during that sentencing hearing that the now-62-year-old former attorney broke down and started crying in court, leading to much uproarious mockery on social media, which was gleeful about seeing another fraudster caught.
Interestingly, the announcement of the guilty verdict came from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office, which said, in a press release promulgated back in 2025, “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.”
It continued, “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.”
The press statement then went on to describe the schemes in which McKenna was caught. The investigation into the former real estate attorney began because of two real estate fraud schemes in which he was involved and for which he was investigated, and the investigation into the biggest scheme of all came as the authorities looked into the much smaller real estate schemes.
Noting as much, the press release began by describing the real estate schemes, saying, “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.”
Continuing, and describing the second scheme, the statement said, “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.”
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That, in turn, led to the pandemic scheme in which he stole millions of dollars, apparently to fund a secret romance. Describing the scheme, the Manhattan DA’s office said, “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.”
He pleaded guilty to all of that, and then his sentencing came during March of 2026. He was sentenced to two to six years for the pilfering of millions of dollars from the bank account of a company that was trying to use them to buy protective gear. He used the money to pay for personal luxuries, which were lavished on his then-girlfriend, who was the CEO of the company involved.
Watch McKenna break down here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video