Dirty Deeds by Developer Leave Families Facing Eviction

A real estate developer with close religious and social ties to the Lubavitcher Hasidim community managed to swindle 40 families out of their homes in what the Daily News describes as one of the biggest scams of the recent housing crisis.

Eliyahu Ezagui sold pre-construction homes to 40 different families in Crown Heights, and years after the buildings were in place and the families moved in, he took out mortgages on the condos and left the country. Both the names of the buildings and the addresses on Lefferts and East New York Ave. had religious significance, which apparently lulled the home buyers into a sense of trust and solidarity with Ezagui.

One husband and father of six said, "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." But they never got the deeds, which is how Ezagui could take out $15 million in mortgages on the homes.

Mortgage payments weren't made, so now the families face eviction from the banks Ezagui borrowed from. And Ezagui, who fled to Israel, is shedding crocodile tears over the mess he's created for people who trusted him. "I was stuck and it hurts and I feel sorry for those people."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dave Hogarty in News on April 27, 2008 11:10 AM

Comments [rss]

megs

It seems that since Israel receives the largest percentage of America's foreign aid, that they should have a friendlier extradition process.

sonyactivision

That Lubavitcher's gold teeth would look awful pretty in a bank vault in Switzerland.

dadoc

And Jen, you, I & everyone knows why there's no investigation.

dadoc

And all of this is a surprise, how?

U.S. should suspend all aid to any entity (NOT diplo relations, missions, etc.) that does not have a mutual extradition agreement with us.

Wanna bet this guy gets an end-of-term pardon & immunity (a-la Rich) in the end-of-days of someone's term of office?

Typical, in no way surprising.

JenChungsThong

oy vey

JacqueMehoff

sichy beat me to it, any relation to that story?

yes, I do think they could be related? it's a very close knit community.

finnthecat

duh, i dunno, sinchy. do you think the black man who was beaten by jews in crown heights has any relations to the blacks who killed yankel rosenberg after screaming "kill the jews!"?

40,000 lubavitchers in crown heights, sinchy. they must all be related.

Snoopy

I guess they got "jewed" in the deal.

Sinchy

Ezagui sounded familar any relation to the thugs who beat this poor guy

Grand jury to investigate attack on black man by Jews in Crown Heights

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/04/24/2008-04-24_grand_jury_to_investigate_attack_on_blac-2.html

emilydickinson

It's pretty difficult to indict someone who's in Israel as well, the laws are really in the perps favor here. Old NY'ers will remember the Crazy Eddie debacle of the 80's. This is a sad story.

eyekantspel

Jen, according to the article referenced,

"Last week, a spokesman for the state attorney general told the Daily News that prosecutors are looking into the matter."