Harold L. Gruber, 60, Brooklyn, New York, an attorney, and his condominium-developer clients, Joseph Scarpinito, 59, who has a prior federal felony conviction for bank fraud, and Shiraz Sanjana, 54, have been barred pursuant to a court order from doing condo and securities-related work in New York pending the court case. The order enjoins the respondents from engaging in any act directly or indirectly relating to the offer or sale of securities (which includes coops and condos) in or from the State of New York.
The order was signed by a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice and further requires the respondents to deposit $3.2 million with the Court, the amount of money meant to secure the developers’ obligations to 67 home buyers at 161 East 110th Street, Manhattan, New York, an eight-story development known as the Mirada.
Pursuant to his authority under the Martin Act and after receiving complaints from homeowners, an investigation was launched into Joseph Scarpinito’s and Shiraz Sanjana’s development and sale of residential condo units at the Mirada, a newly-constructed condominium located at 161 East 110th Street. Home buyers at the Mirada complained to the Attorney General’s office about pervasive water leaks and construction defects in their brand-new building, and that the developers failed to obtain a permanent certificate of occupancy from the City’s Department of Buildings.
In the course of the investigation, it became clear that Scarpinito and Sanjana have participated in an elaborate ruse intended to defraud home buyers – a ruse that was facilitated by their lawyer, Gruber. Scarpinito, Sanjana and Gruber submitted at least nine false filings to the Real Estate Finance Bureau in their attempt to skirt their obligations to deliver completed apartments to home buyers and conceal the developers’ identities. They concealed their identities to avoid disclosing Scarpinito’s fraud conviction, as is required by law. The fraud was also an attempt to walk away with $3.2 million of purchasers’ deposit monies, and pin all liability on Scarpinito’s 83 year-old mother, Nancy Scarpinito, who was listed as the sole individual controlling the developer of the Mirada in filings with the bureau. It is not believed at this time that Nancy Scarpinito had any complicity in the conduct of her son, Sanjana, or Gruber.
When confronted with the statements of several witnesses – including those of Gruber’s current and former employees and Scarpinito’s own mother – as well as substantial documentary evidence of their fraud, both Gruber and Scarpinito failed to make restitution to their victims or cease their fraudulent practices. Indeed, Scarpinito defied a subpoena seeking information about the fraudulent activity.
The judge signed an order pursuant to General Business Law section 354. The order requires the parties to deposit the $3.2 million of wrongly-released deposit monies with the court; orders Harold L. Gruber, P.C., 110th Street Development LLC and The John Scarpinito Trust to produce documents related to the sales activity at the Mirada; and requires Joseph Scarpinito and Shiraz Sanjana to testify in open court about their condo development and sales at the Mirada.
Joseph Scarpinito has a history of business failure, bankruptcy and criminal conduct, including a 1998 conviction for felony bank fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey that he concealed from Mirada home buyers. Shiraz Sanjana has been Scarpinito’s business partner for years, and appears to have been involved in the fraudulent conduct at the Mirada. Attorney Harold L. Gruber is well-known to Brooklyn condo developers as a solo-practitioner with an office in Brooklyn. Other respondents named in the order are The John Scarpinito Trust, which is controlled by Joseph Scarpinito, and the 110th Street Development LLC, the entity that developed the Mirada, also controlled by Scarpinito.
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the court order. Attorney General Schneiderman’s Real Estate Finance Bureau obtained the order.
Senior Investigator Richard D. Friedman aided in the investigation.
The investigation is being conducted by Assistant Attorney General Serwat Farooq and Jeffrey R. Rendin, Chief of Real Estate Finance Enforcement, under the auspices of Erica F. Buckley, Chief of the Real Estate Finance Bureau and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Karla G. Sanchez.
“Because of their egregious conduct and their failure to cooperate, my office sought a court order under the Martin Act that stops these actors from operating in the securities markets and safeguards the purchasing public and the victims at the Mirada as we continue to investigate,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “My office is here to protect condominium and co-op buyers from fraud and it remains our priority to prosecute unscrupulous lawyers and developers who undermine the public trust with false filings.”
agreed, nys cooperative apartments are a scam and a fraud , all due to NYS attorney general’s office refusal to enforce or intervene in unlawful or illegal activity. we are talking criminal activity. The attorney general’s office has refused to intervene with . shareholders rights to financial transparency of their coop, telling them instead to hire a civil lawyer.
This refusal on all aspects of has result in 35 years of kickbacks,frauds, and embezzlement.
Sadly there are few people now a days that have the guts to step up and challenge corruption, It is an extreme sad state of affairs in NYS , where the Attorney General refuses to back up the lawful shareholder trying to stop fraud in its initial stage
Due to the AG and the Westchester county DA refusal to even make a phone call inquiry after written information concerning mortgage fraud is received.
A complete investigations of coops should be done by the AG. Especially the one created in the 80’s. They were created to avoid rent regulations. How we have no protection for our coop home, especially targe are people with no mortgage, usually older people.. housing lawyers need to be investigated too. They allow them to add usuryy charges and evict a family from their mortgage-free home. We have no protection in bankarutcy court either. Coop formation was a fraud in the 80’s and needs a florecensic investigation. We live under constant threat and in fear of being homeless all the time.