Baldwinsville attorney faces new charges after alleged Qatar flight attempt
A Baldwinsville attorney was charged again after state police said he booked a flight to Qatar days after a grand larceny arrest tied to duplicate legal billing.
Donatello Marof Lazarati, a Baldwinsville attorney, faced new charges after he tried to leave the country for Qatar just days after being arrested in a Chenango County billing case. He submitted duplicate bills for the same legal services while working in the county’s Assigned Counsel Program and collected about $4,700.
The case began June 23, when Lazarati was arrested in the town of Clay with help from the Troop D Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team. After his June 24 arraignment, he was released on his own recognizance and ordered not to leave the country and to surrender his passport by June 26.
On June 25, he bought an airline ticket to Qatar at John F. Kennedy International Airport. State police in New York City arrested him before he could depart, and the case was turned over to Troop C.
On June 26, state police charged Lazarati with second-degree bail jumping and second-degree criminal contempt. He was remanded to Chenango County Jail, and bail was set at $35,000 cash, $50,000 credit or $250,000 partially secured bond.
Chenango County’s Assigned Counsel Program provides legal representation to people who cannot obtain their own counsel, and every county in New York relies on private lawyers for that work under County Law Article 18-B. The state Office of Indigent Legal Services sets the current assigned-counsel hourly rate at $158.
Lazarati Law Office is listed online with a Syracuse address and additional offices in Oswego, Cortland and Broome counties. Lazarati was admitted to the New York bar in 2023, and Chenango County lists its Assigned Counsel Office at the Eaton Center, 21 Eaton Ave., 2nd Floor, in Norwich. The case also has ties to Onondaga and Cortland counties, where Lazarati is under investigation.
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