Real estate lawyer charged again, this time over stolen SI down payment

A real estate attorney who was charged with second-degree grand larceny, residential mortgage fraud and possession of a forged instrument for allegedly using several Brooklyn homes he did not own to secure a $225,000 mortgage in 2010, has now been accused of stealing a $75,000 down payment from a Staten Island woman who was selling her house.

According to the Staten Island Advance, Jarrett Haber was representing a friend selling her Bentley Street home for $475,000 in 2010, when the alleged crime occurred. The buyer had placed $75,000 in an escrow account as a deposit, prosecutors claim; that money then disappeared.

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“The money came out of the account that he was in control over,” a source said.

Haber was charged with second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property last month. He was arrested Monday on the new charges and arraigned in State Supreme Court, according to a spokesperson for the district attorney. [Staten Island Advance]