When a defendant is charged with grand larceny in New York City, the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the property is worth more than $1000. For an intangible property, which is not a physical property, the measurement of its value is not as apparent as that of a tangible property.

For example, welfare fraud cases generally do not involve tangible property; instead they involve the misrepresentation of certain information on official forms, which results in the defendant receiving certain benefits he/she did not qualify to receive. There is no physical property that was stolen or defraud from New York State, but the benefits that were fraudulently obtained may be considered a grand larceny.

In these instances the prosecutor have the burden not only of proving the fraud, but also establish that the benefits defrauded were over $1000. What is taken into calculations for welfare cases is how much New York State paid within that one account, such as monthly premiums, food stamps payments, and Section 8 subsidies etc.

Benefits are intangible property, but this does not mean that they have no value. In many instances the benefits that are calculated against the defendant depends on the legal official assigned to the case.

It is a criminal defense attorney’s job to reduce the claim amount and calculate the lowest value of the intangible property as seen appropriate in welfare fraud cases. Why? Because doing this can essentially lower the charges from grand larceny to petit larceny, which is a misdemeanor, or require the defendant to pay a lower restitution.

If you have been investigated or arrested for welfare fraud in New York City, call our office at (212) 577-6677 to get professional legal advice.

No, it is not definite but the removal of green cardholders who are convicted of Grand Larceny is common. A criminal defendant who is an alien or a non-citizen of the United States may become subject to removal even at the conviction of lower felony charges, which usually include grand larceny charges from shoplifting.

An alien, who is found guilty of grand larceny before a New York State Supreme Court, will most likely have a stipulated judicial removal order be entered after his/her sentencing.

The alien will then find him/herself subjected to a judicial proceeding before an Immigration Judge in determining whether he/she violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which includes a variety of crimes.

Does an alien’s immigration status at the time of the conviction impact the process for removal?

Yes. An alien’s immigration status or lack thereof determines which removal procedures he/she will face.  A convicted Non-Citizen defendant may be presented before an Immigration Judge under INA or have his/her removal process be handled administratively. However, a defendant who lacks a lawful immigration status may potentially be subject to expedited removal or be subject to removal regarding of any convictions.

Hence, for Non-Citizens who are charged with lower felonies such as a Class E, Grand Larceny charges, you must be wary of pleading guilty to a felony or to enter trial, because a felony on your criminal record could bring grounds to potential removal proceedings.

If you are recently being charged for a grand larceny in New York, then call our office at (212) 577-6677 to get professional legal advice.

Yes, you can encounter multiple other charges from the sole act of grand larceny. According to the New York Penal Law Section 155.30, a person is guilty of grand larceny when he steals property that values over one thousand dollars. But typically, a grand larceny is perpetuated from another crime such as embezzlement, forgery, identity theft etc.

While the offender’s main objective may be theft, there are numerous other crimes the offender may have done to steal; this thus gives a savvy and experienced New York State prosecutor the opportunity to throw a litany of charges at him. If one charge does not stick, then the prosecutor have a myriad of additional charges that may.

For Example:

One of the most common form of forgery based grand larceny scheme stem from the workplace. An employee may have gained access to his/her employer’s business checks, and fraudulently divert payments to his/her own personal bank account. The cumulative amount, the employee stole exceeds one thousand dollars.

In this scenario, the prosecutor may aggregate the total value of properties the offender took from his/her employer from the beginning of the theft; each time the employee makes a deposit, forges his/her employer’s signature or tries to cover up the crime by altering any business records, the prosecutor may add an additional count to the criminal complaint.

If you are currently being investigated for Grand Larceny in New York, then call our office at (212) 577-6677 to get professional legal assistance.

Unique D. Jones, a 21 year old woman from Brooklyn, New York, was arrested and charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the 3^rd Degree, two counts of Grand Larceny in the 4^th Degree and four counts of Petit Larceny, and one count of Scheme to Defraud, for allegedly using Craigslist ads to defraud the New York City Housing Authority of approximately $3500 and illegally subletting her public housing apartments.

Between March and September 2010, Jones posted on Craigslist that her NYCHA eligible apartment in Brooklyn, New York was available for sublet when it is not permitted to be. The unknowing potential tenants gave Jones $2400 to sublet that apartment while renting the same apartment to another tenant for $2400.

If convicted, Jones faces a maximum penalty of 12 years of imprisonment.

Dr. Cecilia Chang, the former Vice President for International Relations and the Dean of the Center of Asian Studies at St John’s University located in the Queens campus of New York City, was arrested and charged with a 205-counts of grand larceny, forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument and falsifying business records in stealing more than $1 million from the University in various credit card reimbursement and charitable foundation schemes.

Following a 2009 internal audit by St John’s University officials of Chang’s travel and entertainment expenses, evidence revealed that Chang has been using the University’s credit card or the University’s reimbursements to fund her personal expenses of approximately $50,000/month.

Chang’s indictment further alleged that Chang has been paying for her son’s tuition to St John’s Law School with a Taishin Visa card, and requested reimbursement from the University while claiming that it was for business expenses.

Evidence also revealed that Chang has forged St John’s letterheads and emails to the Kingdom Foundation, an alleged charitable foundation of the Prince of Saudi Arabia, the purportedly appropriated $250,000 and attempted to appropriate another $550,000 from the foundation.

If convicted, Chang faces a maximum penalty of 25 years of imprisonment.

Richard Bassik, the property manager for Downtown Properties, Inc., pleaded guilty to 13 counts of Grand Larceny, and one count of Scheme to Defraud, for allegedly stealing more than $2.3 million from 19 of the properties in lower New York City.

It was also revealed that Bassik, was an ex-con who spent 14 years in prison on a kidnapping conviction before receiving a position as property manager for Downtown Properties.

During Bassik’s employment with Downtown Properties, it was alleged that Bassik has been funneling money from the 19 properties in downtown New York City which he manages. Bassik allegedly stole money through wrongfully issued checks, cash withdrawals, and the diversion of his employer’s Certificate of Deposit (CD) funds.

Bassik also created two dummy bank accounts with his name as the signatory to deposit Downtown Properties’ business funds. Approximately $2.3 million was taken from Downtown Properties, to fund Bassik’s lavish lifestyles of overseas vacations and his $25,000/month lottery addiction.

Bassik’s defense claimed that Bassik is under a state of “delusional belief system” and begged the Judge to lower his sentence to 1-3 years.

But Bassik currently face more than 15 years of imprisonment.

Carlos Prince, a resident from Queens, New York, has been arrested and charged with one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the 2^nd Degree, and Grand Larceny in the 4^th Degree for cashing a forged check of $1,316 from the New York City Department of Finance.

In December 2009, Prince allegedly endorsed and cashed a check for $1,316 from the New York City Department of Finance that was supposed to be made out to his landlord. Prince claimed that he received that check from a codefendant and shared the proceeds with him.

If convicted, Prince faces a maximum sentence of 11 years of imprisonment.

Anita Haines, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Community Center Director was arrested and charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Forth Degree, Criminal Possession of  Stolen Property in Third, Fourth and Fifth Degree, Official Misconduct and Petit Larceny for allegedly defrauding the NYCHA by stealing $4,775 of tenants’ fees.

Between January 2008 and April 2010, 12 tenants paid Haines a total of $4775 to rent the community center or to attend summer camp ran by NYCHA. It was alleged that Haines never reported the payments to the NYCHA and had pocketed that payments without permission or authority.

If convicted, Haines faces a maximum penalty of more than 12 years of imprisonment.

Te-Hu Tsuei, aka “Peter” a self proclaimed New York State licensed immigration attorney and sometimes an experienced immigration law paralegal, has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of Grand Larceny, Scheme to Defraud, Unauthorized Practice of Law and violating various subsections of the Immigration Assistance Services Law.

Between November 2007 and May 2009, Tsuei allegedly defrauded two Chinese immigrants by falsely introducing himself as a licensed immigration attorney or an experienced immigration law paralegal and assuring them that they can qualify for a U-Visa when they are not.

The victims claimed that Tsuei charged them over $6,000 each for processing their applications. However, Tsuei was neither a New York State licensed attorney nor was he authorized by the Federal Board of Immigration Appeals to provide legal services. By May 2009, Tsuei’s “law office” in New York City was shut down and the victims were unable to reach him after losing $6000.

Tsuei’s case remains ongoing.

If convicted, Tsuei faces a maximum penalty of more than 12 years in prison.

Spiros Moshopoulos, Tommy Skiada, and Daniella Radulescu, New York City residents, were charged with a total of 714 counts of fraud; each of the defendants were variously charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, money laundering, promoting gambling, tampering with a witness, conspiracy and scheme to defraud. It was alleged that the three defendants operated a bingo hall in Queens, New York and illegally siphoned funds from charity organizations.

The bingo hall allegedly used various inactive charities under the name of Romanian Orthodox Church of Sts. Constantine & Helen to generate funding and charities by conducting various bingo games. But under Moshopoulos’, Skiada’s and Radulescu’s conspiracy, the funding generated through the bingo games were purportedly used to enrich their own pockets. An approximate total of $830,000 charitable funding was allegedly stolen by the three defendants.

If convicted, each of the three defendants faces more 10 years in prison.