NYC Broker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Rental Deposits

To nearly two dozen prospective New York renters, Juan Valoy appeared to be an honest real estate broker. But prosecutors say he was a fake who pocketed $105,000 of their money.

The phony broker has pleaded guilty to two cases in Manhattan and in the Bronx for a scam that included taking fees, security deposits and first-month rents after showing apartments for which he neither owned nor had rights, Gothamist reported. He’ll spend at least four years behind bars.

The boroughs’ district attorney’s offices say he stole around $25,000 from three victims in Manhattan and $80,000 from 18 victims in the Bronx. Most of his victims were Hispanic and primarily Spanish-speaking.

Valoy admitted to authorities the deposits for apartments he’d taken were his sole source of income, according to voluntary disclosure forms Bronx prosecutors provided to Gothamist.

“I used to work as a Realtor. Business went bad, and I had to make some money. I started showing apartments because I know how to be a Realtor,” Valoy disclosed. “I would have people fill out the application and submit them.

“It’s not my fault that the applications were not accepted and I cannot return the money because I spent it,” he said.

In Manhattan, Valoy pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny under a plea deal that calls for him to be sentenced to two to four years in state prison on Sept. 9, District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

In the Bronx, Valoy pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and scheme to defraud, and was sentenced to four years in state prison followed by five years of supervised release, an assistant district attorney in the borough’s office said.

“New Yorkers trusted Juan Valoy to rent them apartments. He broke that trust by pocketing their money, leaving them without homes,” Bragg said in a statement. “Juan Valoy is facing time in state prison for his harmful conduct. Manhattan is facing a housing crisis, and we will prosecute those who exploit it for their own advantage.”

Valoy’s scam was simple: he’d show desperate prospective renters renovated apartments that he had no right to rent, then take from $2,500 to $7,000 from each victim, promising their money would guarantee the unit because there were many interested parties, according to prosecutors.

He’d then not return their calls, or refuse to refund their money, the district attorneys said.

Prosecutors were presenting their case to a grand jury last year when Valoy stopped showing up for trial, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s office. They learned he’d started operating in Manhattan.

Bronx and Manhattan prosecutors found him hiding in motels in Yonkers, Bronx officials said. He was arrested and bail was set for $150,000. Valoy was unable to make bail and is now on Rikers Island.

It’s not the first time Valoy posed as a Realtor to defraud renters. In 2014, he was sentenced to up to 4 years in state prison for stealing thousands of dollars in an apartment scam in Washington Heights.

– Dana Bartholomew