Crown Heights, NY – A developer accused of swindling some 40 Crown Heights families out of millions was ordered held without bail last night after returning from his Israel hideout.
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Eliyahu Ezagui, 47, pocketed $15 million in mortgages on condos he sold to families living in two buildings he developed in the Brooklyn neighborhood.
Authorities said it was the biggest local case of subprime mortgage fraud on record.
All the families are Hasidic, like Ezagui, and face eviction because Ezagui stopped making payments on the buildings at 770 Lefferts Ave. and 613 East New York Ave. He obtained the mortgages because he kept the apartments’ deeds, rather than turning them over to buyers.
Ezagui fled to Israel late last year after his scheme started unraveling and was arrested on a warrant Sunday at Kennedy Airport.
Federal Magistrate Marilyn Go rejected bail backed by a building owned by Ezagui’s brother Solomon after prosecutor Jonathan Green argued Ezagui was a flight risk.
Meanwhile, tenants facing eviction, most of whom knew Ezagui, had mixed emotions about his arrest. Jeff Minsky, who lives at 613 East New York Ave., said, “He has a wife and children, and I don’t like to see anyone like that go to jail, but he did something that is getting us thrown out after he had chances to fix it. He has the money.”
Robert Tolchin, lawyer for 17 tenant families facing eviction, said litigation with mortgage lending banks and Ezagui is continuing in Brooklyn Civil Court. Numerous foreclosure notices have been served, but no tenants have been evicted.
“Ezagui passed up many chances to straighten out this mess. The law finally caught up with him,” Tolchin said.
In April, Ezagui said he was bankrupt, that he had tried develop the buildings properly and transfer the deeds to the tenants, but ran out of money.
In a telephone interview from Israel, Ezagui said he obtained the mortgages, including 13 in his mother’s name, to pay off more than $3.3 million in loans he took out to finance construction of the buildings. “I’m bankrupt. I hurt my parents, my family and I destroyed everything,” Ezagui said.
I am a crown heights resident and this case is about a developer geyying into something over his head…He ran out of money because he sold to cheap, the construction cost skyrocketed on him HE HAS NO MONEY everything he has is Bankrupt. but obviously people are angry and who could blame them. But he has a wife and a bunch of kids brothers sisters and parents and keeping him in jail does no good for anyone.. He says he came back because he wants to payback and rectify the situation so we should give him a chance
why did he come to the us if he knew he was in all this trouble?
Rochel 8:07 must be his sister or lawyer or something.
For the past 10 years the victims and the rabbanim have been giving him 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th chances. He has never straightend out the mess, or even tried. He just took more and more mortgages.
When the banks began to foreclose on his 60+ mortgages, and the victims faced being thrown out in the street, he actually tried to argue that they were just “investors” and he owes them nothing–even though the Bais Din of Crown Heights had already ruled several times that he was required to transfer deeds to them.
He was many times offered ways to cooperate with the victims to make the best of a bad situation, for example by transferring all the remaining interest he had in the apartments to a pool to be divided by the Bais Din. He refused, and instead “lawyered up.”
Whatever trouble he’s in, he brought it on himself despite many warnings and many opportunities to do teshuvah.
8:12 – because he’d been doing the same thing for years and he had come to believe that the law was a joke. He had commited hundreds of instances of bank fraud and never been arrested. He thought he was teflon.
Word has it that he has done much the same on other properties, but that this was years ago, and he relented to furnish deeds to the owners after much pressure. He seems to have a history of all this, and it is good that the government caught up to him. It is sad that rabbonim were never able to get beyond warning him to fulfill his obligations, and that we now must watch the courts take him down.
Isn’t he the same person that owns the furniture store?
One more thing, Rochel:
In America, when a developer “gets in over his head because he sold too cheap,” the LEGAL solution is very simple: Bankruptcy. Scamming dozens of phoney primary residence mortgages from banks and cheating the people you sold apartments to by putting the apartments in your mother’s name and then taking mortgages that you have no realistic way to pay back is NOT A LEGAL OPTION.
you won’t find one nice word about him here in CH – if you do like it is his brother or lawyer like the first post above. Save the tears the kids are fine and his wife wants out – look t least he’ll have chabad visiting him in jail shtick dreck indeed. Sorry harsh words but he’s hurt more then a handful of families.
I am not a sister of family memeber . i am just a Ch resident that wants to comment..This case is about a guy that went into over his head,has no money,does not even own his pants, I am not giving him right,Yes he made mistakes and didnt act responsible..But what good does is do to lock up a father of kids and a big family? At least if he is free on bail he would try to do whatever he could. and like every story has three sides,there is one side and the other side and the EMES side
I agree with ‘ROCHEL” This guy should have filed for Bankrupcy in court he would have spared himself and his family loads of grief. Its very sad when someone gets in trouble and then he compounds the problem by taking more mortgages or whatever he did. But i agree with Rochell that keeping him in jail does no good for anyone
Rochel- He needs to be locked up for his kids’s sake. His children should not see a walking, talking, chillil hashem thief.
Fisrt of all, have him go bankrupt on his own name, not his mother and other family members
go bankrupt on construction cost not on 40 families who are living in them currently
oh he has a wife and kids… right so why did you do this in the first place if you care about your wife and kids you will be straigt not crooked
oh and if you let him go you think he will be home with his wife and kids no they life in miami and are safe in a home owned by his wife so they have no problems and him on his own will just dissapear and wont be with his wife anyway
he got what he deservs
may it be a lesson for others
stop b’sing with other peopls lives
the penalty for thievery is compensation not incarceration
may hashem have mercy amen. it could happen to anyone!!! What hashem wants from us is emmes. Hashem knows our intentions but the trick is to admit when the outcome is what we thought and also to admit when it doesn’t workout the way expected. Hashem is going through the given situation with us.
The tragedy is more so there is AA, there is for gamblers but were is for greed? Knowing him for several years personally i warned him that the end will be jail. Unfortuantely, the organizations who recieved money from him kept quiet and didn’t try to help instead of take the money that is the tragedy.
May hashem have mercy on him to make him realize the truth and to admit amen.
May we merit to see hashem send mosiach amen
8:33 – The rabonnim issued psakei din, which were converted into judgments in court. Problem is, he didn’t care and didn’t comply.
What’s the point of putting him in jail? Well, I’ll bet that you will now think twice about doing some mortgage same and gambling that you’ll get away with it.
To Rochel and all those in agreement with her view of “what good does is do to lock up a father of kids.”:
If you were the victim of identity theft, by a mother of a few children, who positively regrets her actions once they catch up with her…would you be so quick to forgive HER prison sentence?
So unless you personally live in one of Ezagui’s apartments (such as Mr. Minsky in the article) I don’t think you have the right to forgive anyone’s prison sentence.
BS”D
Isn’t he the same person that owns the furniture store?
———-
No. That is his brother or cousin.
why did he return?
for the record I have also family members that are victims here…But know one thing (1) There are daily occurances were construction projects go bust (2) He did go to DIN TORAH its not that he ignored a din torah,,He did go to DIN TORAH as every jew should and the pesak was that he must pay back I think its like a one million dollars. Rabbi Ozdeboh signed the pasak and mr ezagui said he will follow the pesak..the problem is he doesnt have it ,,, Is this criminal? no no Ezagui is a looser ,call him whatever names you want,,he lost it,,he screwed up whatever name you want,,a bankrupter,,,but in criminal Jargon he didnt hold up a bank that he should be charged as a criminal,,And by the way if you will call every person who looses a pasak din a criminal you could lock up half of crown heights,, Would you want that? again I am not saying he is right, but to call him a criminal because he lost a money issue din torah? Rabbi Ozdebo never said he should be arrested because he lost the din torah
You are right re what good is locking him up….except it might teach others a lesson that this is what happens when you think you can get away with screwing so many people.
and, do you think that letting him free he will work on making restitution? how would he do that? who would touch him in the world he needs to be in to let him make that type of money?
you cant change a leapords spots
The restitution issue is one of the most serious ones, as our Torah spells out the consequence for stealing is “vehaishiv es hagezeilo”. It is true that while behind bars, he would not be able to do so. But if free, would he do so, or would he support his family? It is unreasonable to expect that he will be able to return to an income situation that would enable him to make restitution to any, certainly not all, of the victims. The only option is prevention – make sure that such events cannot happpen again. Jailing him as a deterrent from others making such mistakes and victimizing might just work. What do our poskim say about that?
Rabbi Ozdeboh DID NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO CHARGE HIM CRIMINALY and rabbi Ozdebohs son also lost money here. They are using a elderly nice lady as a pawn that she is pressing charges..I dont want to mention names here . but the guys who are behind here are Locking up a jew and using these lady as a conduit that she is pressing charges agaisnt Ezagui …RABBI Ozdeboh is against this,,
“the penalty for thievery is compensation not incarceration”
It is actually both!
and by the way The problem here is from now on no one will want to go to din torah because if you loose the other side will charge you and lock you up as a criminal. It hurts very much when you loose money but we have to remember that we are JEWS and there is a torah that we have to abide by and if the din torah doesnt say lock him up we cant LOCK HIM UP.
I agree with mendel. The plantifs in this case stand no chance of collecting if this goes to trial. Everyone here is guilty because no one made a legal contract or was represented by an attorney for a legit signing of contract.Folks listen here the frum community has to wake up and not trust anyone when it comes to money this is putting money AL KEREN HATZVI if you borrow or buy a home please have a Lawyer handle the contract or whatever it is ..the few $ it cost saves so much heartaches down the line
HE HAS A FAMILY IF HE GOES TO JAIL, YOU SEND HIS INIOCENT FAMILY TO JAIL AS WELL. HIS CHILDREN NEED A FATHER. LET HIM RECTIFY THE SITUATION, AND MOVE ON.
The person who informed to the goverment on MR ezagui is a MOOSER . just now after the yarttsit of the rebbi a JEW could go and inform on another jew ? are we so far off already? because you lost moeny is no Heter to inform and deliver a jew to the goverment. The travesty here is that the din torah did not allow to inform on him so who ever did this has the halacha as a Mooser and Mr Ezaqui is going to know who did it and will call him to a Beth din
Yosef Yitzchok – How do you know he doesn’t have the money? The fact is that he still owns equity in some of the apartments and refused to part with even that.
Yosef Yitzchok – He isn’t a criminal because he lost a din torah and didn’t pay. He’s a criminal because he a) sold apartments to buyers, then deeded them to his family and took out mortgages; and b) he made serious lies to the banks to get them to issue the mortgages that they never would have issued had they known the truth.
Elyahu Ezagui took whatever he could get from the Crown Heights comunitty with both hands. He then grew a sleazy ponytail and moved on to Florida where he tried to scam other people. Even at a time when he was tooling around Crown Heights in a spanking new fire engine red Masseratti he never looked to give back to the institutions in the neighborhood.. He had his deffenders in the neighborhood like the M. Family but I am sure he scammed them too. I say good riddens make him somebody else’s problem.. His brother in the picture in the NY Daily News is a dog too…
You say “”he made serious lies to the banks to get them to issue the mortgages that they never would have issued had they known the truth”” This is a seperate issue this is his problem with the banks and if the bank wants to go after him for mistating information its their prejorative. ( and by the way g-d forbid if the banks will start going after every persons written infomation in the mortage applications this whole town is in trouble ) The issue here is there was a DIN TORAH Rabbi Ozdeboh gave a pesak and Mr ezagui said that he will abide by the pesak he was just asking for more time do come up with the money,,thats the issue What right does a jew have to inform on his fellow jew regarding money issues especialy when there was a din torah here? again I am not taking sides here.
The lawyer mentiond in the paper fighting this ganov Bob Tolchin is a one man force of justice. Think of him as a Frum Batman.. He is fearless in taking these criminals to face justice. He took on the administrator of Shulamit School also when the guy on his own volition decided to sell the building and pocket the profits because he thought “az es kimpt ehm” This lawyer took him to task. I would like to have him on my side when I go in front of the tuition committe. Does anyone know how to get ahold of him? Is he Frum?
Now what will happen to those families living there…forget about the loser…let’s find a way to help people keep what they paid for…can they form a cooperative and pay off (any financial people out there chime in)
Anonymous says””He isn’t a criminal because he lost a din torah and didn’t pay. He’s a criminal because he a) sold apartments to buyers, then deeded them to his family and took out mortgages;.This is non sense .I work in a tiltle company and there is no such a thing.If you made a sale on a house the buyers gets a clean title that insured,no such a thing that the developer could go and take out a mortage again once he sold the house…something smells here
Too ” Anonymous says”” Bob Tolchin works for who ever hires him and pays him $350 an hour
Aron – You’re right about deeds and clean title.
Only problem is that when Ezagui sold these units, there was no approved offering plan, so he couldn’t sell them that legititmate way. Instead, he violate the Martin Act (the NYS law governing condos) and sold them anyway, pre-construction. Instead of a deed, he gave a shtar that provided it was enforcable only in Beit Din. Thus, he took advantage of the frumkeit of his victims.
From all have read about this guy….it appears that he is a profesional con man, taking advantage of his own people. Putting him in jail and throwing away the key will be just punishment…but his entire family needs to be investigated and their assets checked as to how money came to them if he hid his money thru them.
Sorry to all that want to make nice nice with this fraud …he and any one attached to this scam need to be punished. Shame on him!!!
Why would a buyer violate the Martin Act? (the NYS law governing condos ) the martin act is made exectly for this ..TO PROTECT THE BUYER…so bottom line here is I see LAV ACHBERA GONIV CHOIRA GONIV
Rochel !!!!!!
It is very obvious that you are not a victim of this guys maipulations and GENEIVOS.
I am also a developer and what he did is CRIMINAL
There is and was NO reason not to transfer the deed and titles to the people.
He is a GANOV and a CROOK.
Rochel, What don’t you understand????
I dont understand how 40 people closed on a property, payed money and no one got a deed….Are there really so many dumbs and idiots in crown heights?
Shlomo Ber – They didn’t “close.” This was a pre-construction investment.
How come no one gives me money?
Mushka – because you’re probably too honest to sell something you don’t have.
How can Rabbi Ozdoba pasken against Ezagui if his son is one of the victims. Hes not just nogea bedovore here, hes don din leatzmoi! And who says hes opposed to mesira? His son was from the first guys to give public interviews to the press, which is what caused him to be arrested. Shame on you!
Ozdoba never paskened any case involving his son. But he is the Av Beit Din of the Beit Din where other victims of Ezagui brought their case, and where Ezagui agreed to appear (nothing happens in Beit Din without consent of the defendant to the authority of the Beit Din). Ezagui knew who he had ripped off, and if he had any problem with Rabbi Ozdoba he should have raised it then, and asked for a different Beit Din. He did not. Instead, he took his chances and only made accusations after he lost and his victims tried to enforce the Beit Din award.
what smells is the “victims” who live in a place for years without paying a penny rent or mortgage. Sure they put down some money but they had no right to the deeds because they didnt pay or take out a mortgage for the full value of the apartments.
Some of these “victims” put down cash on these apartments and then rented them out. They’ve been collecting rent for years without having to make any mortgage payments.
The families that live there that are facing eviction are using the press to get sympathy so they can get a better mortgage deal for themselves. They didnt lose any money. They’ve been living rent free and have long ago used up their down payment.
The only loser here is ezagui who tried to do good things and then got in over his head.
what happened to kaf zchus? the guy came back to defend himself, let him have his day in court and we’ll find out what happened.
meanwhile this yid is sitting in jail without bail. isnt this a rachmanus?
how heartless and cruel to make these awful comments and to believe every word of this 1/2 sided story without knowing any of the facts.
1. Rabbi Osdoba actually sat by the Din Tora – If the defendant did not object or even if he actually agreed which is ok according to haloche it’s not acceptable a father shoul not remove himself from being a dayan on his own sons din toire. Where is the integrity and honesty? Lefnei meshuras a Din?
2. As everyone well know there is no Av Bais Din in Crown Height. When some people refered to Rabbi Marlow that way Rabbi Osdoba objected and said all 3 rabbonim are equal. Beside there is an famous answer of the Rebbe “Ein Rov Roshi beLubavitch”
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Anonymous Wrote: “Ozdoba never paskened any case involving his son. But he is the Av Beit Din of the Beit Din where other victims of Ezagui brought their case, and where Ezagui agreed to appear (nothing happens in Beit Din without consent of the defendant to the authority of the Beit Din). Ezagui knew who he had ripped off, and if he had any problem with Rabbi Ozdoba he should have raised it then, and asked for a different Beit Din. He did not. Instead, he took his chances and only made accusations after he lost and his victims tried to enforce the Beit Din award.”
But the “cash” they put down was the full purchase price!!