Fifteen years after his felony conviction for securities fraud, the New York State Education Department – Office of Professional Discipline is finally taking away Sam Antar’s CPA license. Sam pleaded guilty to three felonies in 1992. He didn’t renew his CPA license after that, assuming his license would be taken away anyway. When a CPA in New York doesn’t renew the license, she or he is considered an “inactive CPA.”

They never took it away.

For the last several years, while giving fraud presentations around the country, Sam has been mentioning this situation.

Finally the Office of Professional Discipline is ready to act. It has taken New York 15 years to get around to revoking Sam’s CPA license. And the best part? They asked him to send in documents to verify the criminal conviction. Yep. Wouldn’t want to take away that CPA license 15 years late without verifying the crimes first.

Note: Sam never held himself out as a CPA after the conviction… in fact, he referred to himself as a former CPA.