A New York man who used deed theft to take over two Harlem brownstones with a combined value of $4.7 million was convicted after a seven-week trial.
Joseph Makhani was found guilty of two counts of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the First Degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. He will be sentenced on July 28 and faces a maximum sentence of 8.33 to 25 years in prison on the top count.
According to evidence presented at trial, Makhani used fraudulent deeds, other false documents, and shell companies to steal a brownstone located at 107 West 118th Street in 2012 from an elderly and vulnerable homeowner. Makhani falsely claimed that he paid $975,000 for the brownstone on a mortgage application and later when applying a $650,000 construction loan for renovations. Makhani then refinanced and received a $1.2 million long-term mortgage loan on the property.
Makhani submitted fraudulent paperwork to the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development in order to convert the building into market-rate apartment rentals. The true owner of the property was forced to live in a homeless shelter for years while Makhani profited from the property.
Also in 2012, Makhani used fraudulent deeds and other false documents to criminally possess another brownstone located at 135 West 131st Street. He secured the signature of a tenant with the false promise of helping him get a job, and then filed a fraudulent deed that claimed the tenant was the owner of the building who transferred the property to a company he controlled.
In 2013, Makhani attempted to evict the tenants of the brownstone. When his ownership was questioned, he filed a new fraudulent deed claiming the property was transferred to him by the heirs of the last recorded property owner, who died in 1975.
“Joseph Makhani maliciously targeted an elderly homeowner and shamelessly attempted to evict long-time tenants in a heartless scheme to steal two homes that never belonged to him in the first place,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “Today’s conviction should serve as a warning to all deed thieves: my office will hold you accountable to the full extent of the law. I will continue to do everything in my power to combat deed theft and keep New Yorkers in their homes.”
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