Two of the suspects were in court on Wednesday, facing a long list of fraud and theft charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says the suspects pretended to be heirs to the owner of a brownstone valued at $1 million after she died in 2018 and then handed off the deed to the building to the companies that were owned by the suspects.
The suspects then allegedly cashed in hundreds of thousands of dollars by selling the home.
The accused allegedly acquired ownership of the building's deed and fraudulently obtained a mortgage and construction loan to renovate the property so they could sell it for profit, the indictment said.
Angela Jazmin Ramos Malpica, 35, Yuan Kuei Li, 41 Abdur Rahman, 34 as well as Great Neck Acquisitions Inc, White Lotus Consulting Inc and Ocean Property and Trading Inc were charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, mortgage fraud, criminal possession of a forged instrument, offering a false instrument for filing and identity theft.
The trio were indicted in State Supreme Court on Wednesday and are alleged to have fraudulently obtained a mortgage and construction loan of over $1.6 million on a house at W 131st Street.
The owner of the brownstone passed away in 2018 and left the property, valued at over $1 million to her husband, children and grandchild, according to court documents.
In April, 2024, authorities allege Ramos posed as an heir of the owner and forged documents allowing her to sell the house to Li, a staw buyer, who in turn sold it to Rahman, in another allegedly fake sale valuing the property at $1.5 million and then taking out huge loans against it.
The deed allegedly contained the purported signatures and personal identifying information of other members of the Marrero family.
No one in the Marrero family signed the deed or gave permission or authority to anyone to sign on their behalf.
Li allegedly sold it to Rahman and Great Neck Acquisitions Inc., a company that Rahman controls, for $1,515,000.
The accused allegedly used the stolen property as collateral to obtain a mortgage and construction loan in the amount of $1,636,00.
On or about April 25, 2024, the deed and the mortgage were recorded with the New York City Department of Finance Office of the City Register, listing GNA as the owner, with Rahman signing on behalf of the company.
Ramos subsequently cashed three checks totaling $254,875.03, which were funds obtained from the mortgage and construction loan.
Rahman allegedly received $487,375 from the construction loan into GNA's bank account, which he controlled.
Rahman also sent approximately $265,000 of the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to a corporate bank account for MSK Construction Team Inc, a construction company controlled by Li.
Li, through MSK, allegedly used portions of that money to pay for ongoing construction on the alleged stolen property, for which Li was serving as the contractor.
A woman said she has been living in one of the newly renovated studios in the building for about four months.
She says her rent is about $1,400 to $1,600 a month and there are about 8 studio apartments in the building.
At full capacity, the monthly rent roll could be between $12,000 to $14,500.
Bragg can't say what will happen to the people who may be renting apartments in the stolen building because the investigation is ongoing.
Neighbors say deed theft is not uncommon.
"I know about 15 years ago, that was very prevalent in this neighborhood," a neighbor said.
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