A real estate broker in the Bronx and a couple of her associates are facing up to 15 years in prison for perpetrating an alleged deed theft scheme targeting vulnerable homeowners in the borough.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark charged Extreme Realty owner Marcia Campbell, her husband and another business associate with multiple felonies, the Bronx Times reported. Campbell received 13 additional charges, including scheming to defraud.
The trio were also charged with one count each of second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third-degree grand larceny, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business records in the first degree. The trio allegedly obtained a fraudulent mortgage on a Bronxwood Avenue home in the borough.
In one incident, an unwitting victim asked Campbell in 2019 for help transferring a home to the victim’s sister. But Campbell and her associates allegedly forged the victim’s signature and transferred the property to their own shell company, proceeding to take out the $493,500 mortgage.
In 2021, the alleged perpetrators defaulted on the debt, leading the lender to file for foreclosure and remove the victim from her home. The foreclosure was stalled when the AG stepped in.
Prosecutors also alleged at least three other schemes. In one, Campbell allegedly took $91,000 in unnecessary fees from a house-hunting immigrant couple, only returning $17,000 when they demanded their money back. In another, an immigrant mother allegedly gave $65,000 to Campbell for a multifamily investment that didn’t exist, recouping only $15,000 later.
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Campbell also allegedly defrauded a friend, asking for a $130,000 loan for an investment opportunity and ultimately never paying it back. All told, Campbell allegedly swindled her victims out of $250,000 for those three schemes.
Campbell’s first court date is scheduled for early December.