North Country Gazette



Man Charged With Forgery In Foreclosure Scam

Posted on Tuesday, 10 of November , 2009 at 5:59 pm

QUEENS—A Flushing man has been charged with second-degree attempted grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and other charges for allegedly forging the signature of a man whose home had been foreclosed on in an effort to collect the surplus that resulted from a sale of the house.

Harry Coumnas, 50, of 25-25 126th St., Flushing, is charged with second-degree attempted grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree falsifying business records and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors said the complainant, Leonard Lum, was the owner of a property located at 73-20 32nd Ave. in Corona, Queens, which was foreclosed upon on March 21, 2003. As a result of the foreclosure, there was a surplus of $128,044 owed to him as proceeds from the sale of his property through foreclosure action.

On Dec. 17, 2008, the complainant filed an action in Queens Supreme Court, civil term, located at 89-17 Sutphin Boulevard, to collect the surplus, prosecutors said.  On Feb. 9,  however, Coumnas, of H.C. Sonic, Inc., allegedly filed a petition with the court in opposition of the complainant’s action, claiming that the complainant had assigned rights to the defendant to collect the $128,044 surplus in exchange for a payment of $25,000.

Coumnas allegedly hired an attorney to file papers in an effort to collect the surplus, which included filing documents bearing the forged signatures of Leonard Lum and his wife, Betty Lum, purportedly assigning the surplus of $128,044 to the defendant in exchange for $25,000. According to the criminal complaint, the complainant never assigned the right to the surplus to the defendant and did not receive the sum of $25,000 from the defendant.   11-10-09

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Category: Courts, Crime, Housing, New York State, Real Estate

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