Tag Archives: Harlem brownstone

By John Del Signore in the Gothamist.com

Is your home safe from deed fraud? Oh, you rent? Well, is your landlord’s home safe? New York prosecutors say deed fraud is on the rise, and they’re citing one recent indictment as proof: Brooklyn contractor Enrique Castillo has been charged with forging documents claiming that the deceased owner of a vacant Harlem brownstone had signed the deed over to him. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau says, “He wanted to make money on the property by selling it,” and accuses Castillo of also filing fake mortgage records with the city. According to Morgethau, “This mortgage, in which no money actually changed hands, was in effect a lien on the building so nobody else could get it, sell it.” Castillo was caught, prosecutors say, after he tried filing bogus power of attorney forms with the city to wrest control of the brownstone from the dead woman’s cousin, who had inherited it. That backfired, and he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. The scheme is reminiscent of that stunt in which a Daily News reporter forged documents to transfer ownership of the Empire State Building to a non-existent company, just to teach people a lesson… People like Castillo.