New York’s long running Bay Ridge condo scandal has reached a turning point, with a court ordering landlord Xi Hui “Steven” Wu to repay more than $4.2 M to the immigrant families he deceived. The ruling forces the man who “sold” nonexistent or illegal apartments to finally return $4.2 Million, plus interest, to buyers who thought they were securing stable homes in Brooklyn. For families who spent years fighting foreclosure and displacement, the decision is both a financial lifeline and a rare measure of accountability in a housing market that often leaves victims of fraud on their own.
The case centers on Chinese immigrant families who poured life savings into what they believed were legitimate condominium purchases, only to discover that the units were never properly created or could not legally be sold. After a lengthy investigation and civil trial, New York’s attorney general and state courts have now laid out in detail how the scheme worked, who was harmed, and what it will take to make them whole.
The Bay Ridge ‘condo’ dream that never existed
The story begins in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn where homeownership has long been out of reach for many working class families. Nearly two dozen Brooklyn families were drawn in when Wu marketed apartments in a building there as affordable condos, promising them a path out of precarious renting and into long term stability. According to reporting on the early fallout, Nearly two dozen buyers, many of them Chinese immigrants, put down large deposits and made ongoing payments believing they were on track to receive deeds to their units.
In reality, the building was never properly converted into a condominium, and the buyers were left in a legal limbo that would later put them on the verge of losing their homes. As the mortgage on the property fell into trouble, the entire building was pushed toward a foreclosure auction, threatening to wipe out the families’ investments and leave them with nothing. That looming foreclosure, described in detail in coverage of the Bay Ridge dispute, turned what had been sold as a safe investment into a nightmare scenario where families faced eviction from homes they thought they already owned.
How Wu’s scheme targeted Chinese immigrant families
What set this case apart was not only the scale of the losses but the way Wu allegedly tailored his pitch to Chinese immigrant buyers. State officials say he and his companies, including TCJ Construction Inc., focused on families who were new to the New York housing system and more likely to trust a landlord who spoke their language and presented himself as a guide through a confusing process. In a detailed announcement, the state’s top law enforcement office described how he defrauded Chinese immigrant families in Brooklyn, explaining that Attorney General Letitia James secured a judgment requiring Wu to repay more than $4.2 M in restitution and penalties…