Crown Heights, NY – More than 40 Brooklyn families face eviction and foreclosure on condos they bought from a developer who pulled off a massive swindle and then fled the country. Join our WhatsApp group
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The families, all Hasidim from Crown Heights, paid developer Eliyahu Ezagui – one of their own – for the apartments before they were built at two sites: 770 Lefferts Ave. and 613 East New York Ave.
“We trusted him, we thought we knew him, he told us he had the blessing of the grand rabbi. We had contracts, so we gave him the money,” said Jeff Minsky, who lives at 613 with his wife and six children.
Ezagui, 47, did not give the buyers deeds when construction was completed in what is the single biggest local case of subprime mortgage fraud on record.
Instead, Ezagui deeded 64 apartments to himself, his father, his mother, his wife and two business associates.
The Ezagui group then used the deeds to take out more than $15 million in owner-occupied mortgages from 15 lenders, including Ameriquest Mortgage Co., Olympia Funding and Chase.
Mortgage payments have not been made and the real apartment owners have received foreclosure notices. Ezagui portrayed himself as a devout man and played on the religious sensitivities of the apartment purchasers, all members of the Lubavitcher Hasidim.
For example, the late Lubavitcher leader, Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, is thought by many followers to be the Messiah. Ezagui named his building’s corporation Chaisom Inc. Chaisom, which means “live here,” is also Mosiach – Hebrew for Messiah – spelled backward.
And the addresses he chose, 770 and 613, have religious significance: 770 Eastern Parkway is Lubavitcher world headquarters; 613 is the number of laws God gave Moses.
Last week, a spokesman for the state attorney general told the Daily News that prosecutors are looking into the matter. read extended article [nydailynews]
Anon. 9:58AM. There are Two [and sometimes Three or more] levels of originality! As Bob Grant likes to ask of some callers, Rhetorically!
“Which Country did you come from, BEFORE you came from THAT country???!!!” Anyway. The ORIGINAL country of origin, (sounds like Yogi Berra, [almost]) is irrelevant to someone’s honesty, or the lack of it! In this case, it’s very sad that some families will be evicted and the [holy] crooks will laugh all the way to the bank!
How many readers always check out a doctor, but trust a
“frum yid”, especially from your own community? These innocent victims were duped by a slick con man. It’s very sad, but we can at least learn a lesson from this.
ALWAYS do proper research, no matter if it’s a realtor, developer, investment broker, contractor, plumber, doctor, or lawyer. Get references, ask around.
Mr. Tolchin, what are the chances that these victims’ homes can be saved?
Hi, I’m Robert Tolchin, the lawyer for Ezagui’s victims. I’ll try to answer all the questions posted here.
1) 12:17 and 12:32: They didn’t get the deeds originally because they bought the apartments before the buildings were even built. There was nothing to deed at the time. He was supposed to give them a deed after construction. Instead, he let them move in, but told them there were “a few things I need to take care of” before he could give a deed. Of course, by this time he was already deeding the units to his family and mortgaging them.
2) 12:49: The answer is yes. Prices between $100-$200K PRE-CONSTRUCTION and ten years ago in a marginal area of Crown Heights were perfectly fair and reasonable.
3) 12:32: People were willing to buy the apartments pre-construction because they thought it was a rare oportunity to get a new-construction apartment in Crown Heights designed for large families at an affordable price.
4) 5:40: First, there were two homeowners pictured in the Daily News, not one. Second, nobody “mossered to the DA”–but they should have. The fact is that Ezagui carried on this scheme for more than 10 years in two buildings, and none of his victims wanted to “mosser.” Ezagui took advantage of these pure, innocent, trusting people, who trusted him. Even as statutes of limitation were approaching, I literally had to beg people to let me file suit in court to preserve their claims. Third, the Beit Din of Crown Heights has heard many claims against Ezagui, and he has ignored the Beit Din’s psak over and over again, and the Beit Din has given permission to go to court.
5) 8:41: You are a smart person. You hit the nail on the head.
6) 11:43: You guessed right. There were documents…very holy documents, complete with BS”D in the corner and a clause requiring enforcement before a Beit Din.
7) 11:44: Correct. The interview was two weeks before Pesach. The Daily News delayed the story because of the Pope’s visit, and then because they didn’t want to publish it on Pesach. It seems that the Daily News doesn’t keep the last day. Maybe they’re Israeli.
8) 11:54: When you build a building that is a whole block long, it includes many addresses. Sometimes people use them all, for example 1152 – 1154 Avenue XYZ. But it is more elegant to pick one. He picked 770 and 613, which were within the range for those blocks.
I’d be happy to answer further questions. You can email me at [email protected].
Rabbi Avraham Osdoba is Av Bais Din, not an Ezagui.
Anybody know these buildings? Man, they are UGLY!!!
“Genius!!
He chose the buildings with those addresses!”
(runs to check IQ)
well, the article does say:
“And the addresses he chose, 770 and 613, have religious significance:”
So, according to the article, he chose the addresses, not the properties.
I guess you’re unfamiliar with Brooklyn real estate. You don’t choose the real estate, not really: you take what you can get.
“He chose what ever was up for sale at the time”
So, again, how did he wind up with those numbers?
All Ezaguis are related, but the family that was harrassed & terrorized by the police just before Pesach are, as far as I know, not involved in this scam.
The Osdobas are very nice people with well-behaved children. There must be hundreds of people affected by this, if you count all the kids. It will be very hard for them & for other largish families to deal with this misery, especially as it means starting all over again, finding a decent place, a down payment & getting a mortgage. New condos in Crown Heights are small & very expensive.
BTW, his father is the Av Bais Din in Crown Heights. Wonder how that will affect the situation.
Anonymous Anonymous said…
Genius!!
He chose the buildings with those addresses!
Genius
He chose what ever was up for sale at the time
Genius!!
He chose the buildings with those addresses!
lock him up for good.
enough is enough.
“And the addresses he chose, 770 and 613, have religious significance: “
Can someone enlighten me: in NYC, how does a builder ‘choose’ addresses?
“so did the rebba approve the pictures and interview to come out in Yom Tov in the Sunday papers?????????????????”
I imagine that this story was being compiled for some time, and the victims may have been interviewed weeks ago.
“Why were poeple stupid enough to give him the moeny for the units prior to the units being finished & then going to a closing where there was a title company putting title into the new owners name?? Can someone please explain what exactly did happen & why the people were so gullable on this one?”
Perhaps Mr. E. gave them a whole BOATLOAD of documents.
Perhaps, one of the documents read something like, “Trust Deed of Beneficial Interest in Real Property,” or somesuch. “Because it’s a condominium, there are different ownership documents,” he glibly explained.
Perhaps the documents were very-official looking.
That’s how I’d do it, if I were a crook. There’s many ways to scam people, particularly if they are a) trusting; or b) crooked themselves. i submit the victims here were of the first category.
Lesson: as several people have already said, if you’re spending your life savings on something, for G-d’s sake get a lawyer, a friend – SOMEONE – knowledgeable to look it over.
To Mr. Moser.
No Normal Rav will tell you that this is Mesirah . Go get a life!
what does where this guy come from have anything to do with his dealings???? more Sinah???
How many Russians, Chassidim, Hungarians,MO, Litvishers, Rebbelech, Boro parkers, Flatbushers, ets scam people, govt, everyday???
People are people and every so often people do things in bad judgement.
Yosef said…
The Ezaguis are a Sephardi-Morrocan family from Montreal originally
April 28, 2008 2:17 AM
That’s strange.
Wouldn’t most Sephardi – Morocan people be from Moroco originally?
so did the rebba approve the pictures and interview to come out in Yom Tov in the Sunday papers?????????????????
Olympia Mortgage also has a fraudulent past. They actually are no longer in existence due to the NYS Banking Dept. shutting them down. There also has to be a crooked Appraiser in this whole mess because, even with No Documentation “junk” loans there is ALWAYS an Appraisal done for every mortgage. Now, had the occupants of the apts. had a knock on their door one day by some guy saying “Hi, I’m here to appraise your apt. for the mortgage you’ve applied for” they would have known something’s up. More likely than not, the Appraiser just wrote them up without ever setting foot into those apts.
this story started over ten years ago they moved at least 8 years ago and it probebly started building a few years before that and if they paid when he started building 100g was a fairly fair price for a apartment housing was only going for 300-400g and hese building were considered way out of the jewish area at that time
the price had to be a little more enticing
Its so sad that the person in the picture is a teacher in crown heights and I personally had him for a while. I dont know to many people as soft and gentle as him… he and his family don’t deserve this…
Did this person in the photo Mosser to the DA and to the Daily News?
If not, how is it that out of all 40 families, facing eviction, the Daily News only has the posed photo of ONE person????????
The Ezaguis are a Sephardi-Morrocan family from Montreal originally
the name “Ezagui” sound familiar. wasn’t it mention in connection with the recent beating incident in CH? Would someone from CH please enlighten us.
Did the residents really think they were getting complete multi-bedroom apartments for $100K down, with no mortgages of their own? Something here is not clear. Plus, they moved in without the deeds? I am not saying Ezagui is not a swindler, obviously he is, but no person should ever sign any real estate (or any legal) document without a lawyer present. To do so otherwise is blind faith…
Ezagui should face consequences of his actions.
Why were poeple stupid enough to give him the moeny for the units prior to the units being finished & then going to a closing where there was a title company putting title into the new owners name?? Can someone please explain what exactly did happen & why the people were so gullable on this one?
How stupid can these families be?
Not demanding the deeds???
10:17 – The projects were originally begun while the Rebbe was still alive. He did bless the first one.
9:51 – Ezagui was able to get the mortgages by putting the units in his mother’s, father’s, wife’s, etc. name, and then getting “junk” mortages with no credit check, no income check, etc., which are sub-prime.
“We trusted him, we thought we knew him, he told us he had the blessing of the grand rabbi. We had contracts, so we gave him the money,” said Jeff Minsky, who lives at 613 with his wife and six children’
I think the above should have been the first sign of trouble.The Grand Rabbi could not have blessed the project since he passed away almost 14 years ago!
I wonder if all the buildings that were tranfered to his other family members are all legal usa citizens
if he is so devout how does he sleep at night/ he should get all he deserves for besmirching the name of g-d and of the rebbe. disgusting and horrible as a Crown Heights resident I am embarrassed.
this is disgusting. but i dont understand 1 things. 1) what does this have to do with the subprime mortgage mess? this is fraud! this has no connection to subprime mortgage!
I dealt with Elyihahu Ezagui, this evil man should be extradited from Israel to Brooklyn face justice.