You are reading

Queens DA Launches Bureau Targeting Predatory Lenders and Housing Scammers

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, (Twitter)

June 3, 2020 By Christian Murray

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has established a new bureau tasked with investigating and prosecuting predatory lenders, housing scammers and contractors who fail to pay their employees prevailing wage.

The new unit, called the Housing and Worker Protection Bureau, will work with other agencies to prosecute con artists and unfair employers.

“Far too often, people are swindled into giving away their property. Unscrupulous criminals often target elderly or vulnerable people in real estate scams convincing them to sign on a dotted line that literally gives away their home,” Katz said in a statement. “This new bureau will investigate those crimes.”

The new bureau will not only focus on prosecuting these crimes but also educating the community on how to avoid being victims.

The unit will also target contractors who take money-saving shortcuts at the expense of worker safety; employers who skim wages from their employees; and those who refuse to pay the prevailing wage.

The bureau will be run by William Jorgenson, a career prosecutor who over the course of three decades has handled homicide and narcotics trials, insurance-fraud investigations and financial crimes.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens man sentenced to 7 years in prison for 2021 attempted kidnapping in Richmond Hill: DA

A Fresh Meadows man was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Richmond Hill in July 2021, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.

James McGonagle, 27, of Parsons Boulevard, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court in November to attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child for grabbing the child off a sidewalk before his mother and siblings thwarted the abduction.

88-year-old woman robbed of purse containing cash while walking in Maspeth: NYPD

Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood are searching for a man who allegedly robbed an 88-year-old woman in Maspeth on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 7.

The senior was walking near the intersection of Brown Place and 58th Avenue, two blocks south of the Long Island Expressway near Frontera Park, at around 4:45 p.m. when the alleged perpetrator snuck up behind her and forcibly removed her pocketbook, police said Tuesday.