Manhattan DA: Northport man bilked victim, 91, out of $8.5M from real estate

A Northport man was sentenced to prison Tuesday for using a 91-year-old man’s real estate properties to bilk him out of $8.5 million and take "advantage of an elderly victim in order to line his own pockets,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

Lyndon Chin, 58, who was acting as a real estate broker at the time of the alleged crimes, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree grand larceny and was sentenced to 1 to 3 years, prosecutors in Braggs' office said in a news release.

Chin had previously helped the man with the purchase and sale of commercial and residential real estate and developed a knowledge of the victim’s properties, prosecutors said.

In October 2015, the Northport resident used his knowledge of the man's real estate holdings to falsify company documents and get $5 million in mortgage loans on four properties owned by the victim in lower Manhattan, according to prosecutors, who did not disclose the location of those properties. 

Chin also opened a bank account under the man’s corporation and deposited about $4.4 million of the funds, prosecutors said. A large part of the money was used to pay at least 20 personal and corporate bank accounts that belonged to Chin's relatives, prosecutors said. He used the rest to pay off personal expenses including car and insurance payments, along with jewelry, according to the release.

Between March and May of 2016, Chin secured another $3.5 million in mortgage loans using the victim’s real estate holdings to falsify documents, prosecutors said. Of that, Chin deposited $1.9 million in another bank account, according to prosecutors.

After the victim was rejected for a mortgage loan on an unrelated business opportunity because of existing mortgages, Manhattan prosecutors said, the matter was referred to Bragg's office. Officials did not say how they were alerted to the fraudulent actions.

“Mr. Chin blatantly took advantage of an elderly victim in order to line his own pockets,” Bragg said in the release. “The [unfortunate] reality is that these types of cases are all too familiar against seniors, who are often viewed as easier targets for fraud. … Our older New Yorkers deserve to have their hard-earned savings protected, and we will continue to crack down on these schemes in any form they take.”