Mortgage company workers charged in scam
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com; Staff writer Bill M
Two mortgage company employees were arrested yesterday for their role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage and identity theft scam in Queens and Long Island, police sources said.
Arrests, the sources said, are likely to continue, with police and prosecutors expected to allege that hundreds of homes were purchased under false pretenses, with many victims facing potential financial ruin because their personal information had been stolen and used to buy several homes.
One victim, a $30,000-a-year waiter, was stunned to find out he owned three homes and owed $1.3 million in mortgages for which he never applied, sources said.
Police know of two dozen victims so far, but the sources said more are likely to come forward.
“What we have right now is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Herd Waichman, whose Great Neck firm, Parker, Waichman, Alonso LLP., has interviewed a number of people who claim to have been ripped off. “It’s not a pretty picture.”
Most of the known victims are from Jackson Heights. One is from the Bronx, and Nassau and Suffolk residents were also victimized. The FBI is also investigating, the sources said.
At the center of the probe is Griffin Mortgage Co., with offices in Jackson Heights, Jamaica and Garden City. Officials with the company could not be reached.
Griffin director and business manager, Jacob Milton, 41, is a Bangladeshi immigrant who has a cable talk show. On the wall of the Jackson Heights office are several pictures of him with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Bill Clinton.
Milton was arrested yesterday at the Queens courthouse, where he had appeared in a pending case, separate from the current investigation, in which he is accused of threatening a client who had filed a lawsuit against him.
Milton, of Port Washington, said nothing to police, according to Lt. Richard Rudolph of the 115th Precinct detective squad. His sister, Nira Niru, who is 38 and lives with him, was also arrested. She works as a secretary at Griffin Mortgage.
Both face charges of grand larceny, identity theft and scheme to defraud.
According to Rudolph, the case dates to July, when six people showed up at the precinct station house to complain that someone had opened up a Home Depot account in their name.
The subsequent investigation uncovered a common thread - all six victims had applied for mortgages at Griffin, Rudolph said.
By early last night, Rudolph said, three police vans had been filled with documents and about 10 computers that were seized from Griffin’s Jackson Heights office, plus residences that Milton owns on Denman Street in Elmhurst and on Fifth Street in Deer Park.
One victim, Mohammed Golam, 42, of Cypress Hills, said he “trusted Milton like a brother,” but that Milton scammed him, first by getting him a mortgage nearly $100,000 more than he was supposed to buy the house for, then by arranging for a refinancing in which Milton kept $40,000 of the money.
“I have a house, but I have trouble,” said Golam. “I pay my mortgage, then I buy food. But I have no money for anything else. Sometimes I don’t even have money for food.”
Meanwhile Suffolk police arrested Noor Mohammed, 44, who lives at the 8 North 5th St., Deer Park, charging him with second-degree grand larceny.
Det. Sgt. Stephen Jensen, commanding officer of the Suffolk identity theft unit, said Mohammed was involved in an Internet fraudulent stock scheme aimed at netting about $100,000. Jensen said the Suffolk investigation is ongoing.
