FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Disbarred Attorney Sentenced to up to Seven Years in Prison for Stealing
Deeds of 11 Brooklyn Properties in Decade-Long Fraudulent Scheme
Targeted Minority Homeowners Facing Foreclosure,
Convicted of 17 Charges; Fraudulent Deeds Were Nullified Today
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a disbarred Brooklyn attorney who stole the deeds to 11 residential properties across Brooklyn, primarily from minority homeowners in financial distress, has been sentenced to two and a half to seven years in prison. Corporations he owns were also ordered to pay $120,000 in fines. The defendant falsely promised to help facilitate short sales, but instead transferred ownership of the homes to himself or companies he controlled and collected rent for years.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant is a serial scammer who deserves every day he will now spend behind bars. He stole valuable homes, as well as the financial stability and integrity of his victims, leaving many in financial ruins. My office investigated, tried and convicted this defendant, holding him accountable and returning the stolen deeds to their rightful owners. We are committed to continue prosecuting deed theft cases vigorously to protect vulnerable individuals from falling prey to fraudsters who seek to exploit high property values.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Sanford Solny, 68, of Midwood, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to an indeterminate term of two and a half to seven years in prison following his conviction in June of 13 counts of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, three counts of first-degree scheme to defraud and one count of third-degree grand larceny in connection with 11 properties following a bench trial. Twelve corporations owned by the defendant were also convicted of 13 counts of third-degree criminal possession of stolen property and one count of third-degree grand larceny.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the judge promised the sentence when he rendered his verdict and stated that, absent that constraint, they would have recommended a sentence of seven to 18 years in prison. The judge today also nullified the deeds to the 11 properties, which were held by corporations the defendant controls.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, between 2012 and 2022, the defendant, whose law license was suspended in 2012 before he was disbarred in 2023, carried out a fraudulent real estate scheme targeting homeowners in foreclosure. He presented himself as a financial expert who could negotiate with lenders to sell the homes for less than what was owed on the mortgage — a process known as a short sale — to help clients avoid foreclosure. Instead, using an array of false statements, he tricked his victims into unwittingly signing over their deeds to corporations he controlled.
The defendant defrauded 15 victims, many of whom had limited legal or financial literacy by convincing them they were getting help. Instead, the defendant transferred ownership of their homes to his companies and in some cases collected rent from tenants already living there. The 11 properties included homes in Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, Canarsie, East New York and Ocean Hill, among other neighborhoods. Victims lost their homes, their equity and, in many cases, suffered damage to their credit as the foreclosure proceedings remained unresolved.
Since 2017, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has obtained 30 indictments against 42 defendants in numerous deed theft cases, pertaining to over 70 properties. All of these cases resulted in convictions – leading to many carceral sentences – except for five that are still pending. Most of the defendants were skilled scammers, including disbarred attorneys and repeat offenders, who targeted and harmed multiple victims. These many successful prosecutions have significantly contributed to the overall precipitous drop since 2017 in the number of deed fraud complaints made by Brooklyn residents to the city’s Department of Finance. The DA’s Office remains committed to safeguarding homeownership and ensuring justice for communities harmed by these predatory schemes.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joseph DiBenedetto, of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Gregory C. Pavlides, Chief of the Frauds Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michel Spanakos, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the Investigations Division.
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