(Source: longisland.com) Brooklyn, NY - November 27, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that Brooklyn real estate developer Daniel Melamed pleaded guilty today in Kings County Supreme Court to a 13-count indictment, including Residential Mortgage Fraud in the Second Degree and two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, class C felonies; as well as four counts of Forgery in the Second Degree, four counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, and two counts of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, all class D felonies. Melamed admitted under oath to engaging in various real estate schemes that defrauded banks and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) by creating shell corporations and forged letters to illegally purchase and/or sell multiple Brooklyn properties between 2011 and 2014. Today’s guilty plea follows charges brought by Attorney General Schneiderman in November 2016.

“Daniel Melamed stole money from taxpayers and cheated the public in order to boost his bottom line,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “We have zero tolerance for landlords who try to game the system to line their own pockets — and we will use every tool at our disposal to bring them to justice.”

Specifically, in one scheme, Melamed, together with former co-defendants Carmen Morales and Abraham Perez, created and submitted false documents that purported to bolster Perez’s income and create the appearance that he intended to occupy 185 Hale Avenue in Brooklyn, which was a requirement of HUD in order to receive a loan from the federal agency. Perez was approved for his loan on the basis of those false submissions and, in less than two years, he defaulted. HUD, which is taxpayer funded, paid over $480,000 to cover the loss...