A Manhattan lawyer who stole $4.4 million intended for COVID protective gear — allegedly to fund a romance with his then-CEO girlfriend — tearfully admitted to the craven crime Tuesday.
Disgraced real estate attorney Bryan McKenna broke down in sobs as he explained to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge that he had tried to lead a “good life” — before he was sentenced to up to six years behind bars for the scheme.
“I’m just ashamed of myself. I tried to lead a good life,” McKenna, 62, said while wiping tears from his eyes with tissue.
“I did these crimes — I deserve to go to jail,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say for myself.”
His defense lawyer, Eric Franz, claimed to the court that McKenna had run into “financial struggles,” and that he was just trying to help his family with the siphoned funds, including a son struggling with mental health.
“His focus was on, ‘I need to help my son,’” Franz told Judge Althea Drysdale, arguing that his client was desperate to get his son appointments with doctors to address medications and mental health.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Borle previously alleged that McKenna siphoned the millions to spend on himself and his gal pal, Duni Zenaye, then the CEO of AstZen Group, a business consulting firm.
Elkay Plastics, a packaging manufacturer and distributor, had contacted AstZen Group to buy 500,000 boxes of medical-grade latex gloves to use as PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, and placed the $4.45 million into an escrow account run by McKenna.
The attorney in January 2021 had agreed to hold the funds in escrow until AstZen Group shipped the gloves — but by April, he had drained the account dry, according to the indictment against him.
McKenna used the money to “benefit his personal life” and further a “romantic relationship” he had with Zenaye, who was not charged in the case, according to prosecutors.
He was given the chance to return the funds in the summer of 2021, but continued to lie about the money’s location until that November, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
McKenna, who resigned from the New York State Bar Association in 2023, also admitted to stealing more than $260,000 from two clients in Manhattan and Brooklyn in a separate indictment.
Drysdale sentenced him to between two to six years in state prison.
“From real estate clients to a company purchasing hard-to-find medical gloves during the pandemic, Bryan McKenna repeatedly drained the accounts of those who looked to him for legal representation,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
The Post reached out to Zenaye for comment.