Baltimore County real estate attorney sentenced to prison after bank fraud conviction

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In the four years since the transaction at the center of his federal bank fraud conviction, Baltimore County real estate attorney Jacob Rappaport and the lawyers who prosecuted him have both been baffled by the same question: “Why?”

The scheme wasn’t especially lucrative for the attorney — prosecutors say it netted him a little more than $16,000 in legal fees, an amount that Rappaport, 41, conceded that he likely could have still made if he did things by the books. Instead, Rappaport made “the worst decision in [his] life” by helping facilitate the plan to falsely inflate the sale price of a Southwest Baltimore apartment complex, he said at his sentencing hearing Tuesday morning.

“Why would I do this when I had nothing to gain?” the former Levin Gann P.A. partner asked during his allocution in U.S. District Court for Maryland, standing in front of a Baltimore courtroom packed with family members and other associates.

Rappaport, who pleaded guilty in April to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, was ultimately sentenced to 15 months in federal prison — prosecutors and the 41-year-old’s defense attorney, Andrew C. White, had both agreed as part of their deal to recommend that penalty.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Delaney agreed with White that there was no direct loss to the lenders involved but said that they took on risks based on false information provided by Rappaport and his clients. As part of his plea deal, Rappaport agreed to forfeit the attorney’s fees that he collected in connection with the scheme to the government.

The attorney is tentatively set to surrender himself to federal authorities on July 7 to serve his term of incarceration. The sentence came as Rappaport, a father of five, expects a sixth child. It also came eight days after his older and younger brother were named as defendants in a civil racketeering lawsuit filed by local health insurer CareFirst.

Rappaport’s fraud conviction stemmed from representation of real estate investment firm Limitless Management and its two co-owners, who sold the Coventry Manor apartment complex in 2022. In his plea agreement, Rappaport admitted to drafting a contract of sale that listed a purchase price that was nearly $1 million higher than the actual price, which was reflected in a side agreement that was not disclosed to the bank.

He also admitted to a similar scheme involving the wholesale of 42 residential homes in the Baltimore area. Limitless co-owner Alexander Schultz pleaded guilty in 2024 to bank fraud in connection with the two deals but is still awaiting sentencing; the other owner has never faced charges and was not named in the other prosecutions.

In his representation of the investment firm, Rappaport “used his [law] license to help others commit crimes,” said Delaney, who asked U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox to impose the 15-month penalty to “send a message” to the legal community about cutting fraudulent deals.

Maddox seemed to agree, saying that general deterrence was “foremost in my mind” in issuing the prison sentence. The judge said there seemed to be a “perception” among real estate professionals and their lawyers that “deceiving banks or keeping banks in the dark” is inconsequential but cited the Great Recession of the late aughts as an example of “what kind of nationwide turmoil” could result from such activity. He said Rappaport took “deliberate, calculated” actions that he knew were illegal and “had the opportunity to think twice” about them.

But the judge, who spared Rappaport punitive fines or serving additional time on supervised release, also acknowledged the Pikesville resident’s “admirable” history volunteering his time for charitable causes and community affairs.

A family friend, a spiritual leader and Rappaport’s older sister spoke highly of him during Tuesday’s hearing, saying that they weren’t speaking to excuse Rappaport’s illegal actions but to shed light on his history of helping others. Growing up, he helped his father deliver food from Ahavas Yisrael Charity Fund to families in Pikesville and still helps with their annual charity drive, said White, a partner at Baltimore-based Silverman, Thompson Slutkin & White.

Others noted that Rappaport provided pro bono assistance to community members with legal troubles. Rabbi Hillel Tendler, who has known Rappaport since he was a toddler, said many local organizations have the lawyer’s number “on speed dial.”

“Even the righteous sometimes fall,” but they shouldn’t be defined by their low points, Tendler said.

Rappaport was fired by Levin Gann in March after the bank fraud charge was filed against him. The Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission had not filed an action to revoke Rappaport’s law license as of Tuesday afternoon, though he and his attorney both acknowledged that he would likely have to give it up due to the felony conviction. During his allocution, Rappaport said that although he doesn’t know what his “next chapter” looks like, he’ll navigate it “with humility and growth.”

The University of Baltimore School of Law graduate said that the actions he admitted to in his plea agreement are “so far from the person I believe myself to be.” He took accountability for engaging in the scheme and called practicing law the “privilege of my life,” vowing to grow from his experience as a defendant and help others avoid making the same mistakes.

“I will carry this for the rest of my life, and I will use it for better,” he said.

As far as his reason for engaging in the fraud scheme, Rappaport said the answer he’d settled on was that “I convinced myself that I was somehow helping.”