NY mortgage exec pleads guilty to embezzlement

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - A mortgage escrow executive pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal embezzlement charges, admitting he stole more than $13 million in proceeds from mortgage refinancing transactions, prosecutors said.

Steven Leff, former president of National Settlement Agency, which handles real estate closings and settlements for banks, entered a guilty plea to one count of felony embezzlement before U.S. Judge Thomas Boyle in Central Islip, New York, the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

"In the midst of a mortgage refinancing boom, the defendant took advantage of his position as a trusted agent of lender banks to embezzle mortgage loan proceeds for his personal gain," stated U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell.

Leff, 45, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, prosecutors said. (Reporting by Emily Chasan and Bill Berkrot, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)