Queens developer to pay $4.8M penalty for selling condos

Tommy Huang, a Queens real estate developer, and his wife, Alice, will pay $1.5 million in penalties and surrender $3.3 million in illegal profits to the state in lieu of prison time, as part of a plea deal, the New York Post reported. The couple pleaded guilty today to one count of felony securities fraud in connection with an Elmhurst condominium development, according to a release from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The Huangs violated a lifetime ban on selling condos or co-ops in New York. A 1999 court decision found that the two failed to use rent money to pay for maintenance on their properties, according to the Post.

This time around, the couple was found to have conspired with their son, Henry, to sell homes at The Broadway Tower Condominium at 85-23 Broadway, which the family developed in 2008. Specifically, they sold six commercial and 27 residential units at the property.

“This is all based on a technicality,” Marvyn Kornberg, Thomas Huang’s attorney, told the Post. “He was allowed to get into other properties, except condos and co-ops.”

The son faces a permanent ban on operating in the New York real estate industry for concealing his parents’ moves by falsifying documents, according to the release. [NYP] —Zachary Kussin