More Lawyers Gone Bad? Prosecutors Of Alleged Mortgage Fraud Say, Yes

The Brooklyn, N.Y., District Attorney, Charles Hynes, has brought charges against 12 people allegedly involved in various mortgage and real estate scams – including a number of lawyers. The allegations involving attorneys, according to the D.A., tell some disturbing stories:

1.      In October 2009, Jean Kemp, a senior citizen, received a phone call demanding payment on her mortgage. However, Kemp and her husband, who lives in a nursing home, have owned their home since 1975 and have not had a mortgage on it since 1987. Kemp reported the call to the Brooklyn office of a New York State Senator, which investigated and discovered a new $225,000 mortgage on the home. Prosecutors and investigators in the D.A.’s Mortgage Fraud and Real Estate Crimes Unit determined that the Kemps’ home was one of several properties Victor Koltun and Jarrett Haber, an attorney, fraudulently used to secure a $225,000 mortgage, according to the complaint. The defendants are charged with using the money from the mortgage to pay down a large debt related to another alleged real estate scam on Long Island. 
 
Koltun and Haber are charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Residential Mortgage Fraud, and Possession of a Forged Instrument. 
 
2.      In December 2004, Alexander Landy, an attorney, purchased a home in his own name, funded by a Washington Mutual mortgage, for more than $500,000. Though Landy ran the title agency responsible for filing the deed and mortgage, he allegedly never filed either with the Property Clerk’s Office and never paid the mortgage, according to the indictment. With no deed or mortgage recorded, Landy was able to sell the building without paying Washington Mutual. 
 
Landy is charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. 
 
3.      Alan Rocoff, an attorney, was the court-appointed referee for the sale of a foreclosed church. Rocoff auctioned the church in 2005 for more than $300,000, which included a profit, after paying down all debts, of more than $200,000. Instead of turning the remaining funds over to the court, for the previous owners to claim, Rocoff pocketed the money himself, according to the indictment. Rocoff has been suspended from the practice of law in New York State. 
 
Rocoff is charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree.