Sanford Solny, the disbarred lawyer convicted of stealing 11 properties from predominantly Black and Brown owners going through foreclosures, appeared in a Downtown Brooklyn courtroom on Oct. 22, for his scheduled sentencing however he has not been sentenced for his crimes — but.
Sentencing was postponed till November 12. This newest delay is only one in a collection of courtroom holdups for Solny’s case, which has seen indictments linger in Queens and Brooklyn for greater than a decade.
Solny, 68, is at present in custody for violating his probation in Queens, the place he was convicted in 2018 for stealing 10 houses. His protection lawyer tried to maintain him from serving jail time by citing Solny’s age and well being points, and arguing that jailing him earlier than the Yom Kippur vacation could be insensitive.
Deed theft victims who attended the Oct. 22 listening to mentioned they had been offended about Solny’s newest delay. In addition they voiced criticism of Brooklyn Assistant District Legal professional Joseph DiBenedetto for advising them to not seem in courtroom as a result of the case was going to be postponed. After they confirmed up at courtroom anyway, Samantha Barrow, an advocate for deed theft victims, mentioned they had been “shocked to see the massive quantity of people that had arrived to help Solny.”
Barrow, who’s with the Folks’s Coalition to Cease Deed Theft, mentioned, “We wanted to be right here as a result of [the victims] wanted to be on document with [their] assertion.”
Oren Yaniv, communications director for Brooklyn District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez, defined that this new delay in Solny’s case was essential as a result of a probation officer had not but completed Solny’s presentence report, which might give the choose details about Solny’s background and prison historical past.
In its sentencing letter to the choose, DA Gonzalez’s workplace identified earlier courtroom agreements in Solny’s case: “Below the Court docket’s earlier guarantees to the defendant, the utmost he now faces is a time period of three and a half to seven years in jail. We acknowledge the Court docket is sure by its guarantees and can sentence the defendant accordingly. Absent these constraints, we’d have emphatically really helpful a sentence of seven to eighteen years in jail.”
Courthouse confrontation
Dozens of women and men from the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood confirmed as much as help Solny on Oct. 22. After they did, they discovered themselves in a standoff with Solny’s victims.
Solny’s supporters wore “I help Solny” badges and crowded into the hallway resulting in the courtroom. At one level, they began singing and chanting. They had been met by vocal members of the Folks’s Coalition to Cease Deed Theft, who — sporting T-shirts emblazoned with “Finish the cycle – Cease deed theft – It’s a crime” — turned to them and commenced demanding, “Cease deed theft! Cease deed theft! Cease deed theft!”
Court docket officers needed to calm everybody within the hallway and warn that any outbursts within the courtroom would result in elimination from the constructing.
Contained in the courtroom, Solny’s supporters outnumbered his victims. After Solny’s lawyer efficiently pushed for his sentencing postponement, Brooklyn Supreme Court docket Justice Danny Ok. Chun allowed at the least one sufferer to ship an affect assertion.
Lisa Abbott, who traveled from out of state to attend the listening to, advised the courtroom in regards to the turmoil she confronted when she misplaced her three-family Mattress-Stuy residence at 53 Van Buren Avenue to Solny.
She was attempting to look after her mom and lease out a part of her home for further revenue however fell behind on her mortgage. Solny’s firm was really helpful to her as a spot that would assist her do a brief sale on the home and keep away from dropping every thing. However as an alternative of signing papers for a brief sale, Solny tricked her into signing over her deed, she mentioned. Abbott remained accountable for the mortgage whereas Solny rented out the property for revenue. Abbott’s credit score was destroyed because the property went into foreclosures, and since she not had the deed in her title, she couldn’t cease the financial institution from taking the home.
She advised the courtroom it took time for her to get better from the emotional and psychological toll of Solny’s crimes, however now she was in a position to make a promise to Solny: “I stand right here not as a sufferer, however as a survivor who survived your acts of evil,” she mentioned. “What you took from me, I bought it again. You took my peace; I bought it again. You took my dignity; I bought it again. You took my sleep; I bought it again. You took my confidence; I bought it again. I’m standing right here telling you you took all this stuff from me, and I bought it again.”
