Jared Solomon, after stealing millions of dollars from Vornado, is broke.
“On my financial inability: I am effectively bankrupt,” the convicted fraudster wrote in an email to his attorney Peter Toumbekis on Friday, presumably from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he’s being held ahead of his August sentencing.
Solomon said he cannot pay Toumbekis, as his last paycheck came 15 months ago, and all of his checking, savings, retirement and investment accounts have been liquidated to cover his family’s basic needs.
“As of today, I have a Chase Savings account that has a balance of $60 (sixty dollars) and whatever cash remains in my wallet (which I don’t have) but I would guess somewhere in the $40 range.
Toumbekis told the court he was requesting to step down as Solomon’s attorney.
It might not be a surprise to those who followed Solomon’s case that he ended up here. The 48-year old was found guilty last month of stealing nearly $10 million from Vornado over a 14 year period.
He did so by creating phony brokerages to bill his employer on the other side of deals he negotiated.
By 2023, Solomon was earning a salary of more than $772,000. And after he was fired from Vornado worked at Newmark for a brief period.
But he immediately spent his unearned wealth. Prosecutors showed how the millions in fraudulent broker commissions were wired from Vornado into Solomon’s accounts and then almost immediately withdrawn to buy homes, cars and a country club membership.
Now, the government wants to seize those assets in order to repay his victims.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have asked the judge in Solomon’s case to enter a $9.5 million money judgment against Solomon. They’re seeking the forfeiture of the Westchester home he bought at 3 Beverly Road in Purchase for $4.5 million and the Upper East Side apartment at 23 East 74th Street he paid $3.5 million for.
They’re also looking to seize a 2020 Porsche Macan and a 2024 Porsche Taycan, plus his $70,000 membership to the Old Oaks Country Club.
Solomon is scheduled to be sentenced on August 4. He faces up to 83 years in prison.
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