A scammer cleverly took people from their homes in New York: the scheme worked for decades

Joseph Mahani is a con man who has been running his scams for decades and destroying several people in New York as a result. His story was told by the publication New York Post.

Left without a home for late payment of taxes

One day in 2013, a package of eviction documents arrived at the home of Ronald Stewart, a disabled person who had lived there for more than half a century. He inherited a $ 2 million townhouse on West 132nd Street from his mother and shared it with his own daughter.

Stewart owed the city real estate taxes and believed that the letter was connected with this debt. The man did not realize that he was the target of a ruthless swindler with a long history of forging documents and hunting vulnerable citizens. It won't be long before Stewart will lose his home and end up in a flop.

Stewart owed the city $ 17 in property taxes. The unpaid taxes have caught the attention of con artist Joseph Mahani, whose history of real estate scams dates back to the 893s.

Mahani found his victims in local courts, tracing the descendants of homeowners who died without a will, and checking tax liens to lash out on properties in financial distress.

This is exactly what happened to Stewart, who broke his neck and back in an accident in 2006.

Eviction documents in March 2013 came from a company associated with Mahani. They said that another company (also controlled by Mahani) had paid off the tax arrears on the house and now it belongs to her.

A few months later, Mahani handed Stewart a few more papers, which, according to a Harlem resident, he "did not read properly" before signing.

Among the documents is an act dated December 18, 2012, signed by a woman from South Carolina whom Stewart did not know. The mysterious act allegedly gave Mahani control of Stewart's home. The fraudster said he would give Stewart $ 2690 to help him move and post a deposit on the rent of his new home, but in the end he did not pay him a cent.

Stewart left the house anyway in November of that year, moving into a single room for which he paid $ 200 a week.

By February 2014, Stewart had filed a lawsuit against Mahani and his two limited liability companies in the Manhattan Supreme Court. More than five years later, a jury returned Stuart to his home after discovering that Mahani had tricked him into giving up the mansion.

But Mahani did not end Stuart: he quickly sued his victim to recover the property taxes and home maintenance money he spent while owning the home. The judge's swift dismissal of the suit did not deter Mahani, who appealed. This appeal is currently pending.

Veronica Palmer is another victim of Mahani

On West 118th Street, Mahani used forged documents to take the house away from Veronica Palmer, offering her $ 10, which the 79-year-old disabled hostess never received. The house is now worth $ 2,29 million.

Palmer's neighbors said that in 2013 or 2014, she returned home and saw that the front doors of her apartment were bolted. A neighbor, who did not want to be named, said he had to use a bolt cutter to open the door.

Palmer disappeared shortly thereafter, he said, adding that he assumed the woman had sold the property.

“I am very sorry for her,” another neighbor said, adding that at one point the area was full of speculators going door to door.

“They came with tablets and then iPads, trying to figure out if we were in financial trouble,” she said. "They rang the doorbell, they rang the phone, they sent letters."

Experienced fraudster

Mahini, now 58, was charged last week by New York Attorney General Letitia James of misappropriating homes in New York.

“I read this indictment on seven counts,” said fraud victim Stewart. "He got what he deserved."

The attorney general's indictment is not Mahani's first clash with the criminal justice system. In 1998, he and his brother were among 25 real estate brokers who pleaded guilty to a large-scale bid rigging scheme on seized properties in Queens.

According to court records, the Mahani brothers served three months in federal prison in 1999 and paid fines of $ 20 each for antitrust violations.