Bay Ridge landlord ordered to pay $4M in restitution for defrauding dozens of immigrant families

A Bay Ridge landlord who defrauded dozens of tenants has been found liable for fraud and ordered to pay out more than $4 million in restitution.

Xi Hui “Steven” Wu, the former owner of an apartment building at 345 Ovington Ave., illegally “sold” condominiums to at least 20 families, according to court documents and Attorney General Letitia James. Wu never legally created a condominium and did not have the legal right to sell the units, rendering each sale illegitimate even as families paid large sums for down payments, monthly mortgage payments and fake condo fees.

Though Wu collected roughly $5 million in payments, he was not paying the building’s mortgage, and it was eventually foreclosed upon, leaving dozens of tenants at risk of eviction and out hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Attorney General Letitia James sued Wu in 2022. File photo by Todd Maisel

The foreclosure auction of the building was halted in 2022, and James sued Wu months later, alleging a “years-long scheme of deception, fraud, and illegal conduct.” On Jan. 7, Judge Anar R. Patel ordered Wu to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution — plus years’ worth of interest.

The order also prevents Wu from selling securities in the future.

“Steven Wu preyed on hardworking immigrant families, abused their trust, and stole the savings they had set aside to build a stable future,” James said in a statement. “These families believed they were buying homes, when in reality, they were being sold nothing but lies. This order returns money to the families Wu cheated and ensures he can never again exploit New Yorkers through fraudulent real estate schemes.”

James sued Wu in 2022, after an investigation found that while Wu filed a plan to create a 25-unit condo building at 345 Ovington Ave. in 2013, he never finished the legal process to create individual units, separate tax lots, and legal condo deeds.

Many of the building’s tenants were immigrants who did not speak or read English fluently. Wu was a “prominent” and well-known developer in the nabe, and they trusted him. But Wu used informal, often shoddy agreements to finalize condo “purchases,” not the formal legal documents.

Residents of 345 Ovington Ave. in Bay Ridge in 2024. File photo by Adam Daly

When the building was foreclosed upon in 2019, residents were shocked to discover they had no legal ownership of their units. Dozens of Wu’s tenants have sued over the years, and three filed involuntary bankruptcy claims against him in 2022.

He had previously admitted to using tenants’ down payments to pay off his own debts, and the AG’s most recent investigation found that he had also lied to regulators and created fake purchase agreements and other documents to cover his fraudulent dealings. All along, according to the AG’s office, he collecting residents’ payments himself, not placing them in escrow accounts.

In 2024, nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality purchased the building and agreed to convert it into a co-op so victims could stay in their homes.

“We are grateful to Attorney General James and happy for the 20 families at 345 Ovington Street who have finally seen justice prevail after nearly losing everything as a result of this fraudulent scheme,” said Thomas Yu, executive director of Asian Americans for Equality, in a statement.“Not only did Attorney General James successfully prosecute this case, but she worked with the residents and AAFE to prevent any evictions and ensure that the dream of homeownership stayed alive for these families.”