Rockville,Md- Today in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, the Honorable John Maloney sentenced defendant Sari Kurland, a.k.a. Sari Bloch, 65, of Rockville, to 80 years in prison, suspending all but 13 years to serve, and five years of supervised probation upon release. As a condition of probation, Kurland is ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4,216,656.50.
On January 9, 2026, Kurland pleaded guilty to one count of theft scheme over $100,000 and fifteen counts of misappropriation by a fiduciary. Kurland was an attorney with an active law license in the state of Maryland through January 26, 2024, and maintained an office in Rockville. An investigation by the State’s Attorney’s Office determined that between May 2022 and September 2024, Kurland perpetrated three fraudulent schemes involving theft and misappropriation of funds. In the three schemes, there were 21 victims, totaling a loss of $4,216,656.50.
Scheme details:
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- In the first scheme, Kurland solicited loans to facilitate a so-called Middle Eastern petroleum deal. This scheme involved 18 victims. Most of the deals included at least one promissory note that promised incredible returns for very short-term loans, often one month or less. Repayments were often supposed to be predicated on closure of the sale of petroleum overseas. Instead, the money was wired to an overseas account. None of the victims ever received the proceeds as promised, despite repeated requests to return their funds.
- The second scheme involved two victims and cryptocurrency transactions in which Kurland was to hold funds in her attorney escrow account to facilitate the transactions, and the funds were to be returned upon the closing of the deals. However, the investigation revealed that Kurland used the funds for other purposes.
- The third scheme involved one victim who signed a retainer agreement with Kurland. The victim had struggled to maintain his business during the COVID-19 pandemic and was not able to fulfill several of his customers’ contracts. He hired Kurland to assist him with filing for bankruptcy, and she convinced him to work out settlements with the customers instead. The victim gave Kurland approximately $150,000 to be used for negotiating settlements with seven former clients. Only two payments, totaling $34,600, were made. The majority of the funds were co-mingled in Kurland’s Attorney Trust Account and disbursed to other parties unrelated to the victim.
Assistant State’s Attorneys Robert Hill and John Lalos prosecuted this matter.
“This defendant occupied a position of trust as an attorney and fiduciary. She betrayed that trust, along with her professional responsibility, by mishandling millions of dollars entrusted to her by clients and investors. We commend the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission and the State’s Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division for their diligent investigation and their commitment to holding the defendant accountable,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy.
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