Brooklyn man accused of home theft

A Brooklyn resident faces burglary and large-scale charges for attempting to steal the Flatland home he once lived in, using a behind-the-scenes document-theft strategy that has left many other residents in the area losing their homes. Brooklyn paper.

He once rented an attic apartment in this house.

James Effivatt, 64, was indicted on January 4 by the Supreme Court Brooklyn... The indictment alleged that he transferred the document at 36 Hubbard Place to a trust under his control. However, he could not claim legal title to the property, which is valued at $ 759.

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“This defendant allegedly filed a false document in an attempt to illegally take over his landlord’s property,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.

The grief-fraudster moved to the attic of the building in 2017. But he soon stopped paying rent and was eventually ordered to leave the premises. The city said the attic was unsafe for use as housing. Effivatt ignored this order, but he was finally evicted in 2019. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development had to arrive at the site and boil up the attic. Effivatt reappeared a few months later and tried to intimidate the building's other tenants, but then went AWOL for a year.

In March 2021, Effivatt returned to Hubbard Place, this time changing all of the building's locks. He destroyed the surveillance footage and confiscated some of the other tenants' belongings. This is stated in the lawsuits of the lawful owner of the building Shifra Salamon. He further told the tenants that he was the new owner of the building and that henceforth he should pay rent. He handed out the keys to the new locks and informed Cohn Edison that he was the new owner.

The crook convinced even the police

Salamon called the police and Effivatt produced a document that allegedly showed that the LLC, registered as the owner of the building, Hubbard Estates LLC, had transferred the document to Ayonkladd Trust, which is controlled by Effivatt. The document is fake and the trust is fake, Salamon said in an affidavit. But the robber successfully convinced cops in new york believe that he was the owner. Therefore, the police refused to remove him from the facility.

Subsequently, he returned to the attic and settled there. Meanwhile, other tenants subsequently stopped paying rent. They didn't know who to write their checks to, Salamon said. Effivatt allegedly tried to sell the house for a cool six-figure sum.

Salamon, through Hubbard Estates LLC, filed a civil action against Effivatt in March this year; the trial is ongoing.

Effivatt, who represents himself in this case, says that the property belongs to him. Because Salamon allegedly did not pay the debt to him. He has presented numerous documents to the city and state authorities, allegedly proving his legal ownership of Hubbard 36. Salamon states that the debt and all documents are fake. The Brooklyn District Attorney agrees with the claims.

He faces up to 15 years in prison

If Effivatt is found guilty, he faces up to 15 years in prison. He is being held with a $ 25000 bail or $ 10 cash bond and is due to return to court on February 000.

Identity theft remains a serious problem in Brooklyn, especially in black neighborhoods that are undergoing beautification. Residents of brownstone homes and other homes that have risen in value in recent years are often targeted by unscrupulous scammers. They secretly trick residents into selling their home for a fraction of its real value. The new owners then charge them at real market value and leave with huge profits.

Between 2014 and 2019, the city recorded 3000 fraud complaints. Just under half of them came from Brooklyn. Mayor Eric Adams, former president of the Brooklyn borough, called the practice a massive "transfer of wealth" from communities of color.