NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas have announced they have preserved an affordable housing cooperative development in Rockland County.
During the course of a two-year investigation, the Office of the Attorney General found that the building, located at 18-36 Columbus Avenue in Spring Valley, was in danger of foreclosure due to illegal misuse of co-op funds by real estate fraudster Russell Mainardi and his girlfriend, who was acting as a property manager for the co-op.
They said Mainardi and his girlfriend grossly mismanaged the building’s finances for personal gain, putting residents at risk of losing their homes. With support from the Rockland Housing Action Coalition, the Community Preservation Corporation, and law firm Nixon Peabody, the attorney general and Homes and Community Renewal Office were able to preserve and stabilize the property both financially and physically.
The agreement requires Mainardi and his collaborators to pay $148,681 in restitution to the co-op and $250,000 in penalties, forces his girlfriend to resign as property manager, and permanently bans Mainardi from real estate development or financing activity in existing residential properties in New York.
The agreement also requires Mainardi to vacate $696,647 in liens he had improperly placed against the property.
