Brooklyn Arson Probe Leads To Duo's Convictions In Straw Buyer Scam; Pair Pocketed $300K+

From the Office of the Brooklyn, New York District Attorney:

• Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes [] announced the conviction(1) of Mavis Samuel, 41, and Carlyle Ebanks, 55, for selling the same Crown Heights building twice, to two different straw buyers. [...] The defendants first sold 1162 Pacific Street in September 2004. In that transaction, they paid a straw buyer $4,000 to buy the building. Though the straw buyer held the deed, Ebanks and Samuel maintained control of the building. While the straw buyer was recovering from a traumatic brain injury in spring 2005, Samuel convinced him to deed the property back to her.

• Then, in November 2006, Ebanks approached a friend and told him that if he bought the building, Samuel and Ebanks would make him a partner in their real estate investment company. The defendants illegally inflated the “partner’s” income and savings account balance on a $1 million mortgage application, to buy 1162 Pacific Street for that price. With that “sale”, they paid off the mortgage on the original straw purchase, pocketed between $300,000 and $400,000, and maintained ownership.

• In the time between the two sales, the building burned down. The case originated with the investigation into a string of suspected arsons in Crown Heights in early 2006.

For the Brooklyn DA press release, see Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes Announces Conviction In Real Estate Fraud.

(1) They were convicted of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and multiple counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and face up to 15 years in prison, the press relates states.