A sprawling conspiracy to strip a grieving Harlem family of their brownstone has netted charges against 18 individuals and three companies, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Thursday — a case prosecutors say unraveled only after years of persistent investigative work into one of the borough’s most brazen property fraud schemes.
The defendants allegedly forged documents, impersonated heirs, and engineered a fraudulent sale of a West 131st Street brownstone to pocket $1.636 million in mortgage and construction loan proceeds. The property had belonged to a woman who died in 2018, leaving her husband, two children and a grandchild as legal heirs.
According to prosecutors, the scheme required a veritable assembly line of fraud.
Co-conspirators allegedly fabricated fake IDs and birth certificates, which other defendants then used to impersonate the family at a real closing, where attorneys, brokers and title agents reportedly stood by — fully aware that the sellers had no legitimate authority to transfer the deed.
“This was a scam through and through,” Bragg said at a press conference Thursday.
The alleged mechanics were elaborate. On April 18, 2024, defendant Angela Ramos posed as an heir and purportedly sold the property to Yuan Kuei Li, who played the role of straw buyer.
Li then flipped the contract to Great Neck Acquisitions Inc., a company controlled by defendant Abdur Rahman. The next day, a closing was held in person, where Ramos and two other defendants impersonated legal owners and signed over the deed. No actual money changed hands on the nominal $1.515 million transaction.
Licensed professionals were allegedly woven throughout: Laurence Gerowitz served as attorney for the fake sellers; Torri Clayton acted as the sellers’ real estate broker; Michael Weinreb represented Rahman and his company and also served as title agent through his firm, Omni Title Insurance; Ernest Wilson posed as the buyer’s lawyer; and Thomas Beatty posed as Rahman’s broker despite holding no broker’s license.
After the fraudulent deed and mortgage were recorded with the city’s Department of Finance on April 25, 2024, the defendants allegedly divided the loan proceeds among themselves.
“Deed theft is one of the key areas of focus for our Housing and Tenant Protection Unit,” Bragg said in the press release, urging potential victims to contact his office.
Bragg also disclosed Thursday that several defendants share family ties to Brooklyn City Councilmember Darlene Mealy, though the councilmember’s office had not responded to a request for comment by the time of the announcement.
All defendants face charges including conspiracy, grand larceny, residential mortgage fraud and identity theft. Beatty faces an additional charge of unlicensed practice.
Those who appeared before a judge on Thursday pleaded not guilty.