On April 25, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced that a Chinese man in Queens was indicted by a grand jury on charges of forging documents and unauthorized sale of jointly owned property without shareholder consent. The defendant, Wing Fung Chau, a 53-year-old resident of Bayside, Queens, appeared in Brooklyn Supreme Court on the same day for trial. The judge set bail at $100,000, of which $10,000 could be paid in cash, and he was ordered to return to court for further proceedings on June 4.
According to the prosecution, the defendant was one of the three shareholders of the company 37-19 Realty Inc., which owned a 25% stake in a large property located at 6208 8th Avenue in Brooklyn. A 56-year-old female shareholder served as the president of the company, holding a 36% income interest jointly with the defendant, while the remaining interest was held by a third shareholder.
The prosecution alleged that on September 28, 2021, without the knowledge of the other shareholders, the defendant signed and submitted a fraudulent memorandum claiming to have sold the company’s ownership rights at 6208 to another 56-year-old woman. Subsequently, the defendant negotiated to sell the property rights of 37-19 Realty Inc. for about $7.2 million to a male buyer under the condition of assuming existing mortgage debt.
However, prior to completing the transaction, the buyer requested the defendant to provide proof of consent from the company president and a statement of contract termination from the previous buyer, along with an accountant’s report. The prosecution claimed that on November 18, 2021, during the transfer, only the defendant represented 37-19 Realty and submitted multiple forged documents, including a fabricated company president’s signature consenting to the sale, a forged statement from the woman terminating the purchase agreement, and a fake accountant’s letter falsely claiming that the company had not filed taxes in the past two years.
Reportedly, after the transaction, the defendant transferred all funds to a personal account and withdrew almost all the money within eight months without distributing it to the other company shareholders. The investigation into this case began after a lawyer for the company president reported to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutor Eric Gonzalez stated, “The defendant is accused of using forged documents and false filings in an attempt to steal approximately $7 million. As property prices in Brooklyn continue to rise, I will continue to combat such fraudulent schemes targeting homeowners to protect their assets and security.”
The property at 6208, a former railroad site near the 8th Avenue subway station on the N line, has changed hands multiple times since 2007. In recent years, there have been reports of a proposed large-scale development project involving a 28-story tower on the site, sparking community concerns. It is currently unknown whether this development plan is directly related to the transactions in this case.
Civil court records show that the defendant, Wing Fung Chau, is originally from Changle, Fujian. As early as February 2022, shareholders had filed a civil lawsuit against him, which has now been taken over by the District Attorney’s Office and elevated to a criminal case. The plaintiffs in the civil case pointed out that since 2014, 37-19 Realty Inc. held a 25% stake in the property, while 62-08 Realty LLC jointly owned the remaining 75% interest in a tenants-in-common form.
As of the deadline, no response has been received to a request for comment sent via email to the defendant’s lawyer, Kevin Wang.