Real Estate Developer Guilty Of $27M Mail Fraud
Posted on Thursday, 26 of February , 2009 at 5:25 pm
NEW YORK—A Manhattan real estate developer has pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a $27 million mail and wire fraud conspiracy.
Ivy Woolf-turk, 52, of Port Washington, working through a Manhattan real estate development company — The Kingsland Group, Inc., and related entities –fraudulently induced approximately 70 individuals to lend the Kingsland Group over $27 million, purportedly to fund the renovation of approximately 16 multi-family apartment buildings located in upper Manhattan.
Woolf-Turk and a co-conspirator, Michael Hershkowitz, falsely represented that the lenders would hold, as collateral for the loans, interests in bona fide first mortgages in the various properties in which they thought they were investing. In fact, the lenders did not hold recorded, first mortgages in the properties. Interest was paid on the loans for some years after they were first made, but ultimately the principal on the loans was not repaid when due and it was determined that the lenders did not have valid first mortgages on the properties in question.
Woolf-Turk, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buckwald to a one-count information charging conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. She faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison.
In addition, the information contains a forfeiture allegation for over $27 million, representing the funds obtained through the fraud. Woolf-Turk is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.
Charges against Hershkowitz, 52, of New York City, are pending. 2-26-09
The North Country Gazette can no longer afford to present the news to you for free and will not do so much longer without advertising and subscriber support. That includes all archives. With Internet and other costs rising, NCG needs your help to continue publishing. To help keep NCG on the Web, advertise your business with us or subscribe to the NCG Daily News Digest, patronize our affiiliate advertisers when you’re shopping online. With every order placed with your advertisers through the NCG website, we realize a commission. To make a donation to help support the operations of the NCG, please use the PayPal button on the website or contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org for a mailing address.
Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@northcountrygazette.org For an investigative report about your case, see http://www.northcountrygazette.org/investigative-reports/
Category: Courts, Crime, New York State, Real Estate
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
COPYRIGHT 2009 - NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of the publisher.
