WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 15
Queens men charged with loan fraud
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Five men — including two from
Queens — were arrested for their
alleged roles in a mortgage fraud
scheme that swindled loan holders out
of millions of dollars, prosecutors announced
Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney’s offi ce for the
Eastern District of New York identifi ed
the fi ve as Michael Konstantinovskiy,
33, of Rego Park; Avraham Tarshish, 40,
of Queens Village; Michael Herskowitz,
40, of Brooklyn; Tomer Dafna, 48, of
Great Neck; and Iskyo Aronov, 32, of
Miami, Florida.
They were charged with conspiracy
to commit wire fraud and bank fraud,
and related wire fraud counts, in
connection with a scheme to defraud
mortgage lenders, according to U.S.
Attorney Richard Donoghue.
“As alleged, the defendants defrauded
mortgage loan holders out of millions
of dollars, with taxpayers saddled with
much of the loss,” Donoghue said. “This
offi ce will continue working with our
law enforcement partners to vigorously
prosecute those who commit
mortgage fraud and enrich themselves
at the expense of the fi nancial institutions
and government programs that
insure or guarantee the loans.”
According to charges, between
December 2012 and January 2019, the
defendants allegedly conspired to
defraud mortgage lenders by misleading
them into approving short sale
transactions at fraudulently depressed
prices.
During a short sale, a mortgage loan
borrower sells his or her property for
less than the outstanding balance of
the mortgage loan with approval from
the lender. Proceeds from the short
sale would go to cover the outstanding
mortgage loan balance owed to the
lender, who typically agrees to forgive
the borrower’s remaining mortgage
loan balance.
In this case, the defendants allegedly
manipulated the process for the
short sales by transferring properties
for prices well above the short sale
prices, and failing to disclose this to
the mortgage lenders and servicers.
The defendants also allegedly took
steps to preclude other prospective
purchasers from making higher offers
for properties by failing to market
properties as required by the lenders,
as well as fi ling fraudulent liens on
properties.
The defendants allegedly provided
the mortgage lenders with fake information
in transaction documents and
Photo via Getty Images
also failed to disclose either payments
made to the borrower and others,
whether it was related to short sale or
existing agreements to transfer the
properties at infl ated prices. Many
of the aff ected mortgage loans were
insured by the Federal Housing Administration,
or owned or guaranteed
by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Konstantinovskiy, Dafna, Tarshish
and Herskowitz were arrested on Sept.
10 in New York, and will be arraigned
this aft ernoon before United States
Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom. Aronov
was arrested in Florida, and will
appear this aft ernoon for a removal
hearing at the federal courthouse in
Miami. If convicted, each defendant
faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1
million fi ne.
“Together with our partners in law
enforcement, we have disrupted a
scheme to defraud Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. As demonstrated by this
indictment, FHFA-OIG will investigate
and hold accountable those who seek to
victimize the government-sponsored
entities supervised and regulated by
FHFA,” stated FHFA-OIG Special Agentin
Charge Robert Manchak.
Clergy abuse claim ‘unsubstantiated’
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The longtime pastor of St. Joan of
Arc Church in Jackson Heights
and current parochial vicar at
St. Teresa’s Church in Woodside was
named in two lawsuits fi led Tuesday
under the Child Victims Act as an alleged
sexual abuser.
Monsignor Otto Garcia, who was
cleared after a Diocese of Brooklyn
investigation in February determined
allegations against him were
“unsubstantiated,” was accused of
child sexual abuse by Tom Davis, 61,
during a Manhattan press conference
on Sept. 10.
Garcia is a vicar general with the
Diocese of Brooklyn, and part of his
duties involve investigating allegations
of sexual abuse made against
clergy members. He remains an
active priest, and celebrated Mass
at St. Teresa’s Church as recently as
Sept. 8.
Davis told reporters on Sept. 10
that he kept the incident to himself
for nearly five decades before finally
coming forward.
“I was molested by Father Otto
Garcia when I was a child back in
the 70s and I kept it to myself for
more than 45 years,” Davis said
during the conference arranged by
the law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates.
“He was able to pick me as a
prime victim because of my parent’s
involvement in the church. I just
didn’t think anyone would believe
me. I said nothing until my parents
passed.”
Davis said that his sexual abuse
began when he was a teenage altar
boy at St. Michael’s Church in
Flushing, where his mother was a
fifth-grade teacher in the parish
school and his father was the parish
basketball coach.
He said on Tuesday that he was so
ashamed by the sexual abuse that
it caused him to fall into drugs, alcoholism
and ruined relationships
before finally seeking help. Davis
would tell his story to the diocese’s
Independent Reconciliation and
Compensation Program, which
found that there was “insufficient
support” to find his claim eligible
for compensation.
“I reported Garcia to the diocese
and even picked him out of a lineup,
but after a two-day investigation,
they just swept it under the rug,”
Davis charged.
Davis’s attorney Jeff Anderson,
who has been filing child sex abuse
charges against Catholic priests
for decades, accused the diocese of
a coverup.
“Garcia is a top diocese official
working under three different
bishops. As a vicar general, he was
designated by the bishop to get
the reports and investigate them,”
Anderson said. “He was the guy
investigating other priests. He was
called the fixer, the Michael Cohen
of the Diocese of Brooklyn.”
After Davis came forward, Anderson
noted, another individual came
forward to accuse Garcia of abuse
and filed a lawsuit as a John Doe.
Garcia remains active at St. Teresa’s
on 50th Avenue in Woodside,
where he celebrated Mass last
Sunday. Anderson urged Bishop
Nicholas DiMarzio, leader of the
diocese, to remove Garcia from
public service.
“Bishop, please, it is time to get him
out and get him out now,” Anderson
said. “Do the right thing.”
Monsignor Otto Garcia is shown in this 2013 New York Daily News
photo outside St. Joan of Arc Church in Jackson Heights.
Photo: Pearl Gabel for New York Daily News
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