A Manhattan developer that Attorney General Letitia James indicted for stealing two Harlem brownstones worth $4 million is now off the hook after a state appellate panel found the embattled prosecutor lacked jurisdiction to take the case.
Under the law, James wasn’t permitted to pursue deed and mortgage fraud charges against alleged conman Joseph Makhani, the state Supreme Court’s First Judicial Department found — because the case was referred to her by an officer of New York’s court system.
Instead, referrals to the attorney general must “come only from an agency” within the state’s executive branch of government, the five-member panel wrote Nov. 17.
It’s the second time this year James – who’s already under fire from critics for allegedly covering up sexual harassment allegations against her own chief of staff for political purposes – had a high-profile criminal case of hers tossed on jurisdictional grounds.
In February 2021, James filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging the e-commerce giant failed to protect its workers from COVID-19 and also retaliated against those who reported safety concerns.
That case was thrown out by the First Judicial Department on the grounds it should have been taken up in federal court, not by the state attorney general, because it dealt with federal labor laws.
Jaime Lathrop, a Brooklyn-based criminal defense attorney, said the latest appellate decision shows James’ office — along with the state court system — went too far in how they handled the Makhani case.
“It’s not just a step over the line; it’s that they clearly exceeded their authority by going after this,” Lathrop said.
Peter Tilem, a former Manhattan prosecutor who is now a criminal defense attorney, said, “They seem to be stretching or attempting to stretch the line of what they have jurisdiction to take. … She’s the highest lawyer in the state of New York and she should be aware of what cases she’s allowed to bring and what cases she’s not allowed to bring.”
The decision indicated the legislature should expand the attorney general office’s jurisdiction, another Big Apple-based lawyer said.
James’ “heart was in the right place by trying to protect people whose homes were stolen,” said Ravi Batra.
One of the brownstones Makhani, of Kings Point on Long Island, is accused of stealing belonged to an elderly woman named Veronica Palmer, who was left homeless by the alleged dirty deeds. Makhani is accused of using forged deeds and other fraudulent paperwork to take the West 118th Street home — offering her a mere $10 she never even got.
The home is now worth more than $2 million.
Palmer returned home one day to discover the doors bolted shut. She was believed to be living in a homeless shelter at the time of the attorney general’s indictment.
A successful criminal prosecution of Makhani could help Palmer, who would likely need to sue in civil court to get her house back.
This isn’t Makhani’s first brush with the law. In 1998, he and his brother were among 25 real estate brokers who pleaded guilty to a massive bid-rigging scheme on foreclosed properties in Queens.
A lawyer for Makhani hailed the appellate decision, saying the case “was rightly dismissed.”
“The Attorney General reached far beyond her jurisdiction to bring a case based on events which occurred a decade ago. Virtually all the important witnesses have died and there was extreme prejudice to Mr. Makhani in indicting him based on these very old allegations. We hope that the Attorney General will move on to more current issues in New York,” attorney Susan Necheles said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is “aware of the decision and monitoring developments in the case,” said spokeswoman Emily Tuttle.
The Attorney General’s office did not comment on the dismissal in the Makhani case, and instead pointed to new indictments in an alleged deed theft ring James announced Friday.
“We will continue to take on bad actors who take advantage of New Yorkers,” a spokesperson from the Attorney General’s Office said. “As recently as yesterday, Attorney General James took action to protect people who fell victim of deed theft. Our office will always step up and work to protect New Yorkers.”