A Brooklyn real estate developer who wrongfully evicted tenants from his rent-controlled apartments and fraudulently obtained properties, was released from jail on Wednesday and sentenced to five years’ probation.
Twenty days in jail and $200,000 forfeiture paid later, Daniel Melamed arrived at Brooklyn Supreme Court in tan prison sweats for sentencing, a stark contrast to his suited-up trial garb.
After being convicted of pushing out his tenants to replace them with higher payers and pleading guilty to grand larceny, residential mortgage fraud and forgery in a separate case, the slumlord can now no longer buy or sell rent-controlled properties in Brooklyn during probation.
The sentence was negotiated with Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun if Melamed, 40, paid the restitution — half of which goes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the other half to his previous tenants — and served 20 days in jail.
While he confessed to several scams between 2011 and 2014 in which he defrauded banks using false documents to help purchase Brooklyn property, he was convicted in a bench trial for forcing his tenants out.
Three residents of his 1578 Union St. Crown Heights building previously testified they had to bathe in buckets and heat their apartments with their ovens when Melamed turned off the heat. And when he put them through living with unnecessary construction, they were surrounded by lead dust that exceeded acceptable levels by up to 88 times, according to court documents.
In his separate fraud plea on Nov. 27, 2017, Melamed copped to illegally purchasing a $250,000 property in 2013 using a shell company to then sell it for $1.25 million the following year.
Upon his release, Melamed plans to travel for a week this Friday.
One Response
@Styledbyshishi husband…. Homeless people for Birkins and Gucci sneakers for toddlers. Makes sense!