A Stamford antiques and auction dealer who was handed total control of an elderly client's money — his power of attorney, his will and his trust — has been sentenced to 66 months in federal prison for stealing more than $2.1 million from the man and his estate. David L. Johnson, 67, of Greenwich, was sentenced on Friday, October 30, by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford, U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan for the District of Connecticut announced. Johnson must also serve three years of supervised release after prison.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

The investigation established that Johnson stole a total of $2,168,719.24 from the victim and his estate, the Justice Department said. Judge Shea ordered him to pay $1,025,056.36 in restitution; Johnson had previously returned approximately $1.1 million of the stolen funds.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

Trusted with everything — and entitled to nothing

Johnson operated two Stamford businesses: Antique Treasures LLC, an antiques business, and Greenwich Auction, an auction business. In approximately October 2018, the victim executed a power of attorney, a will and a trust naming Johnson, respectively, as his agent, his executor and his successor trustee, according to court documents and statements made in court. The Justice Department stresses the point at the centre of the case: Johnson was not a beneficiary of the victim's estate or trust. Everything he was given was control; nothing he was given was ownership.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

The victim died in August 2020, at the age of 87. It was after his death, prosecutors established, that the thefts the case was built on took place — money taken not from a man who could still ask questions, but from the estate he left behind.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

Where the money went: a tax refund, an investment account, and the artwork

When a federal grand jury in Bridgeport indicted Johnson on December 17, 2025, prosecutors itemised the alleged thefts in three streams: more than $436,000 taken from a single one of the victim's federal tax refund checks; more than $217,000 taken from an investment account; and more than $308,000 taken from the proceeds of the sale of artworks — all of it belonging to the victim's estate. The indictment charged five counts in all: one count of money laundering, carrying a maximum of 20 years; one count of interstate transport of stolen property, carrying a maximum of 10 years; and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity, carrying 10 years each. At his first appearance Johnson pleaded not guilty and was released on a $250,000 bond.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, indictment announcement, Dec. 17, 2025

The plea changed the shape of the case. On July 21, 2026, Johnson pleaded guilty to money laundering, the Justice Department said. Sentencing followed on October 30, and the releases bookending the case — indictment and sentence — are the two documents on which this report rests, together with same-day sentencing summaries that confirm the restitution arithmetic: roughly $1.1 million returned before sentencing, and $1,025,056.36 still ordered paid.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

Why a tax agency investigates an antiques dealer

Estate theft of this kind rarely begins with a break-in; it begins with signatures. A power of attorney lets an agent act on financial accounts. Executor and trustee roles control what happens after death. When the same trusted person holds all three — and the person who granted them has died — the usual alarms go quiet, because every transaction looks authorised from the outside. That is why the money trail matters, and why IRS Criminal Investigation, which specialises in following funds through refunds and accounts, led this investigation. The single largest itemised theft in the indictment was not a painting or a piece of furniture: it was a federal tax refund check for more than $436,000.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, indictment announcement, Dec. 17, 2025

The warning for diaspora families with elderly parents

Fairfield County's Stamford and Greenwich sit at the edge of the New York metro area, home to a large Punjabi and South Asian community whose family finances often stretch across two countries — parents in the United States, children working in Canada or India, property and accounts on both sides. Cases like this one are the practical reason lawyers repeat the same advice: never let one person hold the power of attorney, the executorship and the trusteeship without a second set of eyes; use co-trustees or a requirement for two signatures on large movements of money; keep the will and trust with an independent attorney as well as the trusted person; and make sure at least one family member who is not the trustee receives the account statements directly. Trust, in other words, should be structured so that it does not have to be blind.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026

What happens next

Johnson remains free on a $500,000 bond — the bond amount recorded at sentencing, up from $250,000 at his first appearance — and is required to report to federal prison on December 14 to begin serving the 66 months. After prison he faces three years of supervised release, and the $1,025,056.36 restitution order stands, on top of the approximately $1.1 million already returned. For the estate, the criminal case is now closed; what remains is collection — the slow work of turning a restitution order into money actually recovered.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, District of Connecticut, sentencing announcement, Oct. 30, 2026