On Monday, a notorious real-estate fraudster found himself in court, accused of seizing two valuable brownstones in Manhattan. The alleged scheme targeted, among others, an 83-year-old woman who was left homeless and resorted to collecting cans for survival.
Joseph Makhani is on trial, facing serious charges of stolen property and fraud. He is accused of cunningly acquiring ownership of two expensive Harlem properties, with a combined value nearing $5 million, over the span of 2012 to 2023, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
One of the key witnesses set to testify against Makhani is Veronica Palmer. She is the elderly woman from Harlem who was reportedly ousted from her home, which she had purchased back in 1985, as part of Makhani’s alleged deceitful plot.
“He didn’t use a crowbar,” stated prosecutor Nazy Modiri during opening arguments in Manhattan Supreme Court, describing Makhani’s tactics.
“He didn’t break a window. His weapons were forged signatures, fake deeds, and falsified documents,” Modiri elaborated.
“Ms. Palmer could have sold her home for a significant sum,” Modiri highlighted. “However, she had no intention of selling. Harlem was her community, and this property was her sanctuary.”
But Makhani, 63, pounced after the building at 107 W. 118th St. fell into disrepair and took possession by falsifying documents, then used the property to get his hands on a $1.2 million loan he wasn’t entitled to, prosecutors said in opening statements.
Palmer, a former corrections officer who had struggled to maintain her property, ended up in a Brownsville homeless shelter — and was unable to be located when Makhani was indicted in 2023.
Modiri said the elderly victim has since been found and will take the witness stand against her scammer.
State Attorney General Letitia James first indicted Makhani over the building deal in 2021, but the developer beat the case on a technicality — only to have James file a second indictment two years later.
The con man snagged a second brownstone at 135 W. 131st St. by convincing tenant Tyrone Boozier to claim ownership and signing the property over to Makhani, even though the actual owner had died years earlier, prosecutors said.
Boozier is also expected to testify against Makhani at trial, also.
“The defendant ran a calculated, years-long scheme to take ownership of these two Manhattan homes that did not belong to him,” the prosecutor told jurors. “These brownstones were the perfect target. They were homes of the vulnerable, in disrepair.
“And owned by the vulnerable — the elderly and families dealing with death and loss,” Modiri added.
Makhani’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, countered that her client is not a fraudster but a family man building a life and supporting his family — and actually saved Palmer’s brownstone when it was falling apart and riddled with unpaid mortage bills and taxes.
“He is not a deed fraudster,” Necheles said. “He did not defraud anyone out of the properties or money.”
