Legal Services NYC Helps Brooklyn Homeowner Regain Title to His Home, End Decade-Long Deed Theft Saga 

NEW YORK, NY — The wide-ranging deed theft perpetrated by the notorious Launch Development firm and its owner, Herzel Meiri, finally came to a close recently with an unqualified victory for a homeowner, Vincent Holmes, who after nearly a decade, finally regained full ownership of his home. Legal Services NYC’s Neighborhood Economic Justice Project represented Mr. Holmes.

“These criminals targeted us,” Mr. Holmes said in his testimony to the Court by affidavit.  “They called us and forced themselves into our lives.  They preyed upon us and took advantage of our struggles.”

Read Judge Ramos’ order here.

The saga, covered widely in the media (such as the NYT, the AP, The Root and the NY Post) led to one of the first reckonings in the country with the scourge of deed theft — and led to the convictions of Meiri and his son, Amir Meiri. The Meiris and their team targeted Black and Latino homeowners in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, deceived them into giving up title to their homes, and in many cases filed eviction cases to oust them from their own properties. 

Read the full story in Brick Underground.

Caught in the middle were people like Vincent Holmes, who waited more than six years since the Meiris were sentenced to put this chapter behind him. 

Following a two-day hearing, Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York, removed a massive, $650,000 lien with a 24% interest rate claimed by the hard-money lenders, Petermark II LLC and Advill Capital LLC, who funded the Meiris’ multimillion dollar deed theft scam and claimed no knowledge of Meiris’ fraud.

Judge Ramos found that the lenders knew or should  have known that they were funding an illegal, predatory, and devastating  scam. He noted that the lenders “looked the other way” even when confronted head on with “numerous red flags” that clearly indicated that the Meiris were trying to defraud homeowners.

“This victory is a testament to Mr. Holmes’ determination to keep the home that was rightfully his,” said Rachel Geballe, a supervising attorney with the Neighborhood Economic Justice Project of Legal Services NYC’s Brooklyn Office. “Judge Ramos’ order puts all lenders on notice: There is no worse investment than a deed theft scam.”