A years-long scheme to steal valuable Harlem real estate has finally caught up with one Long Island man. And it was New York Attorney General Letitia James who scored the legal victory.
A New York jury convicted 63-year-old Joseph Makhani of orchestrating a deed theft scheme that illegally transferred ownership of two Harlem brownstones worth nearly $4.7 million, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. Prosecutors say the fraud displaced an elderly Black homeowner named Veronica Palmer, who was forced to live in a homeless shelter while someone else profited from her property.
Makhani was found guilty of first-degree criminal possession of stolen property and first-degree scheme to defraud, according to the AG’s office. He faces between eight and 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced on July 28. He will remain in custody until then, the Yonkers Times reported. His attorney said he plans to appeal the verdict.
According to the indictment, Makhani began targeting a brownstone on West 118th Street in 2012 by using forged documents, fraudulent deeds and shell companies to seize ownership from an elderly homeowner. Authorities say the victim spent years living in a homeless shelter despite legally owning a multimillion-dollar property.
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“The defendant ran a calculated, years-long scheme to take ownership of these two Manhattan homes that did not belong to him,” the prosecutor told jurors during the trial. “These brownstones were the perfect target. They were homes of the vulnerable, in disrepair.”
The scheme didn’t stop there.
Prosecutors said Makhani falsely claimed he purchased the property for $975,000, secured a $650,000 construction loan and later refinanced it with a $1.2 million mortgage. Between 2016 and 2023, he rented out the building’s four apartments for as much as $3,400 a month, collecting thousands in rental income while the rightful owner received nothing.
Authorities also said Makhani fraudulently took control of a second Harlem brownstone on West 131st Street after exploiting gaps in ownership records following a beneficiary’s death. He allegedly misled a tenant into signing documents by claiming he was offering the person a job.
A judge previously dismissed the attorney general’s indictment against Makhani on a technicality, the New York Post reported. But a state appellate court ruled in April that prosecutors could present the case to a new grand jury, according to court records.
Attorney General James said the conviction sends a clear message that deed theft – a crime that has disproportionately targeted elderly homeowners and communities of color – will not go unpunished.
“Joseph Makhani maliciously targeted an elderly homeowner and shamelessly attempted to evict long-time tenants in a heartless scheme to steal two homes that never belonged to him in the first place,” James wrote in a statement after the verdict. “Today’s conviction should serve as a warning to all deed thieves: my office will hold you accountable to the full extent of the law.”
The conviction marks another win in New York’s ongoing crackdown on deed theft, a form of property fraud that has increasingly stripped longtime homeowners–particularly Black and elderly New Yorkers–of generational wealth through forged paperwork and fraudulent real estate transfers.
