Over 40 chareidi families in Brooklyn could be evicted and
their homes possessed after buying condos from a contractor
who fled from Brooklyn to Jerusalem. After receiving full
payment he mortgaged the housing units and failed to meet
payments on various loans. Now the lenders are claiming the
properties for themselves.
The story was reported in the New York Daily News.
According to the report, the buyers paid for the condos
before they were built. When construction was complete the
contractor did not hand over the deeds, instead registering
the 64 units under his name and the names of his father,
mother, wife and two business partners. The buyers, all
chareidi families, started moving into the condos in 2000.
Possession notices began to arrive in 2007.
"We trusted him. We thought we knew him. We had contracts in
our possession, and based on them we transferred the money to
him," said Jeff Minsky, who is scheduled for eviction with
his wife and six children. The buyers, who trusted the
builder as a member of the local kehilloh, had no
lawyers present when the contracts were signed.
"We were stupid. We should have had lawyers. We know that
now, but we believed him," Minsky said.
The contractor didn't provide details regarding when the
buildings would be ready. He then used the deeds to borrow
$15 million from 15 different lenders, including Ameriquest
Mortgage, Olympia Funding and Chase.
The swindle is the biggest that has come to light so far in
the ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis.
"I had every intention of transferring the deeds to the
investors, but the project didn't work out," said the
contractor in a phone interview. He has since moved to
Jerusalem with his family. He said he took out the mortgage
loans, including 13 listed on his mother's name, in order to
pay more than $3.3 million to finance the two buildings.
