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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has settled his investigation into the business practices of Shaya Boymelgreen (pictured), who sold condos throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, but left work unfinished at six of those projects and refused to fix any construction defects.
Under the agreement, Shaya must resolve these building violations. Currently barred from offering or selling any securities or condos in New York for two years, Shaya will be permanently barred from selling apartments if he fails to adhere to the settlement, the New York Times reports.
The settlement also covers Shaya’s partners, Itzhak Katan and Domenick Tonacchio.
Although the investigation began in 2013, condo buyers of Shaya’s properties have been filing lawsuits since 2007, complaining of unfinished work, widespread leaks and a lack of fireproofing. At one property, Newswalk, condo owners had to spend $8M just to make the space livable, per their complaint. Shaya’s offering plan for Newswalk indicated the apartments would generate $127M.
This isn’t the Israeli developer's first run-in with the law, as he faced a number of lawsuits after the financial crisis, with regulators closing his bank, Liberty Pointe, in 2010. He was also evicted from his Brooklyn office and forced to settle with the condo boards of two of these properties—15 Broad and 20 Pine—for undisclosed sums. [NYT]
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