Prosecutors charged infamous Brooklyn real estate operator Sam Sprei and former Kings County Supreme Court Justice Edward Harold King with criminal wire fraud conspiracy for allegedly diverting investor escrow funds.
Sprei and King were arrested this morning and are expected to make their initial appearance this afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn.
The Department of Justice alleges Sprei, a well-known broker and investor in New York City real estate who also goes by Yechiel Sprei, Shimon Sprei and Eli Shapiro, teamed up with King to perpetuate a number of fraud schemes.
This included soliciting funds for investment opportunities and telling investors their funds could be returnable. Sprei and King then refused to return the funds and took off with the money, according to the DOJ’s release announcing the charges.
“Fraud that hides behind a veneer of legitimacy—especially the authority of a judge—strikes at the heart of public trust,” said IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Harry Chavis in a statement.
Sprei has found himself at the center of many civil lawsuits over the years, some alleging fraud. He was best known as NYC developer Chaim Miller’s sidekick.
But the DOJ in this case focused on one real estate investment through a bankruptcy sale in Freehold, New Jersey, that Sprei presented to investors.
According to prosecutors in November 2024, Sprei told two investors that in order to buy property they needed to show “proof of liquidity” by depositing funds in escrow. Sprei told investors that the escrow agent was King, a New York judge.
Sprei allegedly told investors their funds would stay in escrow. If the investors decided against going forward with their investment, they could get back their full deposit within two business days.
Investors allegedly wired about $6.5 million to King’s escrow account. But money started moving out of the accounts, unknown to the investors, including a $850,000 wire to a bank account in Sprei’s name, according to prosecutors.
When investors sought their money back, King allegedly told investors he would have his lawyer deposit the escrow funds with an unspecified court, which was not part of their escrow agreement.
A public notice for the property in question, however, said the required escrow deposit was only $250,000, instead of the $6.5 million.
In May 2025, two wires were sent to the investors of $850,000 and $650,000, a partial return of their $6.5 million investment. But Sprei and the King have not returned any further funds to the investors.
If convicted of wire fraud conspiracy, Sprei and King face up to 20 years in prison.
King resigned as a judge earlier this year while he was under investigation by New York’s commission on judicial conduct over the fraud accusations as well as practicing law as a sitting judge. He agreed to resign and never serve as a judge again, ending the investigation, according to the NYPost.
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