Brooklyn Real Estate Player Convicted in Fraud Scheme

It’s not a happy holiday season for a Brooklyn real estate business owner who was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

Avraham Tarshish was convicted in the $2.4 million scheme late last month after a 12-day trial, Patch reported. The 45-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.

“Short sale mortgage fraud not only harms lending intuitions, it also depresses real estate values throughout our neighborhoods and prevents community members from gaining fair access to housing,” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement following the conviction.

Tarshish, who worked for My Ideal Property and owned a trio of other real estate businesses, conspired to defraud mortgage lenders between March 2013 and November 2018, according to prosecutors. He and his co-conspirators misled lenders into approving short sales at depressed values, manipulating the transactions and quickly flipping properties above the traded prices.

Tarshish and his co-conspirators paid homeowners in foreclosure to lock them into short sales, then prevented other prospective buyers from making offers by failing to market the homes, according to prosecutors. Tarshish also placed fraudulent liens on properties and caused property damage to deflate property values.

Prosecutors presented evidence linking Tarshish to dozens of fraudulent short sales, including 11 unfolding in Brooklyn that defrauded lenders and servicers of more than $2.4 million. Many of the impacted mortgage loans were insured by the Federal Housing Administration or either owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.

In addition to Tarshish, co-defendants who previously pleaded guilty in the scheme include Isaac Aronov, Michael Kay (not the sports broadcaster of the same name), Tomer Dafna and Michael Herskowitz. All face up to 30 years in prison besides Herskowitz, who is facing a maximum sentence of five years.

— Holden Walter-Warner