Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. announced on May 28 the indictment of 18 individuals and three companies, all accused of conspiring to steal a home deed and fraudulently obtaining a mortgage and construction loan totaling $1,636,000.
After these illegal transactions, the defendants reportedly split the money gained from the fraud scheme.
The indicted individuals include Abdur Rahman, Angela Jazmin Ramos (also known as Angela Marrero), Yuan Kuei Li (also known as Mike Li), Emily Torres, Tashema Ortiz, Mathew Tyreek Mealy, Anita Davis, Joseph Mealy, Jacob Mealy, Brant Addison, Laurence Gerowitz, Torri Clayton, Ernest Wilson, Michael Weinreb, Thomas Beatty, Clifford Lewisohn, Vibert Sanderson and Vaughn Grandy.
Companies and business entities also charged in the indictment included Great Neck Acquisitions Inc. (GNA), White Lotus Consulting Inc. (WLC) and Ocean Property and Trading Inc. (OPT).
All are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, grand larceny, possession of stolen property, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, forgery and identity theft. Additionally, Beatty faces an additional charge of unlicensed practice of law.
According to court documents, on Oct. 8, 2025, a group including Li, Ramos, Rahman, GNA, WLC and OPT were arraigned after allegedly working together to steal the home's deed by fraudulently transferring ownership. This group reportedly gained ownership of the property and obtained loans to renovate it for resale.
It's detailed in court documents that on Jan. 28, 2024, Sanderson filed false claims against the fraudulently-obtained property. Jacob Mealy, Joseph Mealy, Addison and Davis allegedly created and distributed forged identification documents to others involved in the scheme. This enabled those individuals to pretend to be the legal owners and complete the fraudulent deed transfer.
On April 18, 2024, Ramos sold the property to Li, who acted as a straw buyer. Li then assigned his contract rights to GNA, which is owned by Rahman. The following day, several defendants conducted a closing where they posed as the legal owners and transferred the property to Rahman's company, signing multiple forged documents without permission from the actual owners.
Li then allegedly purchased the home for $950,000, later selling it to Rahman's company for $1,515,000, although no money changed hands. Rahman made a down payment of $45,000 and wrote a check for an assignment fee, which was never processed.
During the closing process, different individuals played various roles: Gerowitz acted as the sellers' attorney, Clayton was the real estate broker, Weinreb represented Rahman and others acted as legal representatives without proper licenses. They proceeded with the closing despite knowing that the actual owners had not authorized any of the transactions.
On April 25, 2024, the fraudulent deed and mortgage were recorded with the New York City Department of Finance. After this, the defendants allegedly received a significant amount of money from the mortgage proceeds.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant D.A.s Chikaelo Ibeabuchi and Hannah Stambaugh. The investigation was supported by various members of the D.A.'s Office and other city departments.