FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 3, 2025
Brooklyn Contractor Indicted for Stealing Approximately $318,000
From Park Slope Couple Renovating Brownstone
Defendant Allegedly Charged for Construction Work That Wasn’t Performed,
Spent Money on Restaurants, Designer Goods, Hotels, and a Porsche
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Williamsburg contractor has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with grand larceny for allegedly stealing approximately $318,000 from a Park Slope couple by charging them for a large-scale home renovation project but performing virtually no work. Instead, the defendant allegedly spent the victims’ money on a series of lavish purchases, including restaurants, designer goods and a Porsche.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant allegedly lined his own pockets by taking advantage of a Brooklyn family who put their trust in him. My office will continue to investigate and prosecute fraud in the home improvement industry and seek justice for those who are victimized by criminal conduct.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Hayk Safaryan, 43, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which he is charged with second-degree grand larceny. He was released without bail and ordered to return to court on April 2, 2025.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, beginning in December 2021, the defendant, a licensed general contractor in Williamsburg, contracted with the victims to perform major renovations to their brownstone in Park Slope.
On June 15, 2022, according to the investigation, the defendant and victims signed a contract that included an itemized list for demolition, site and structural work. The total cost of the project was budgeted at $1,290,000. Two days later, on June 17, 2022, the victims wired a deposit of $322,523 to the defendant’s bank account.
It is further alleged that other than approximately $4,000 that the defendant disbursed to a company to create a site safety plan, the defendant spent all the victims’ funds on purchases unrelated to the project. This allegedly included a $28,000 down payment for a 2018 Porsche Macan S.U.V.; $17,750 on back rent for his apartment; tens of thousands of dollars to cash advance lenders to pay off debts; thousands of dollars on designer goods, including Prada and Alexander McQueen; and thousands of dollars on hotels, bars, restaurants, and an Airbnb in Riverhead, New York.
On February 6, 2023, the defendant’s general contractor’s license expired and was never renewed.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, the defendant allegedly ignored repeated demands from the victims to return their money. Initially, the defendant allegedly offered a shifting series of explanations for the lack of progress on the project, including an audit from his insurance company. He allegedly ceased communication with the victims in the spring of 2023.
The investigation began following a report to the District Attorney’s Action Center.
The District Attorney thanked Financial Investigator Jociely Antigua of the Asset Forfeiture and Crimes Against Revenue Bureau for her assistance on the case.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Daniel R. Tibbets, of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Gavin Miles, Chief of Intake for the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Pavlides, Chief of the Frauds Bureau, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division and Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.