A man prosecutors describe as a phony real estate broker admitted this month to stealing more than $100,000 from nearly two dozen New Yorkers seeking rentals.
Juan Valoy pleaded guilty in two cases this month — one in the Bronx July 2, and then another in Manhattan this week. The boroughs’ district attorney’s offices say he stole around $25,000 from three victims in Manhattan, and $80,000 from 18 victims in the Bronx by showing apartments he didn’t own or have any rights to, and then fraudulently taking application fees, security deposits and first months’ rents.
Prosecutors say most of his victims were Hispanic and primarily Spanish-speaking. In one case, the Manhattan DA’s office said, a woman had moved out of her previous home and tried to move into a Bronx apartment Valoy showed her with a young child — to find it was already occupied by someone else…