Woman Stole $1.3M Through Brooklyn Real Estate 'Ponzi Scheme': DA

BROOKLYN, NY — A woman is facing grand larceny charges for a $1.3 million real estate scam that involved more than a dozen properties in Brooklyn, prosecutors announced.

Regine Norman, also known as Regine Ellis, was arraigned Thursday on a 40-count indictment stemming from a years-long scheme where she told investors she would buy them properties through a private auction, prosecutors said.

Instead, Norman would either hold onto the money or use it to pay back other, newer investors who demanded their money back. It turns out, the private auction company she claimed to be a part of didn't exist, according to prosecutors.

“This defendant allegedly created an elaborate ploy to convince people to invest their money in what amounted to a Ponzi scheme," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "This is another example where Brooklyn’s valuable real estate market was exploited for criminal gains. We will now seek to get justice for the many individuals who were swindled out of thousands of dollars."

Norman, 66, ran the real estate scam for more than two years, most recently in September 2020, In all, she swindled 14 victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars each, prosecutors said.

Each time, she would tell victims that she had access to properties in Brooklyn and the New York area because she was a member of a private real estate auction, convincing them to hand over a "down payment" for the property, prosecutors said. The properties included more than a dozen spread throughout Brooklyn, including in Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill, Bushwick and Brownsville, officials said.

But Norman, who officials said never actually lived in Brooklyn, never used the funds to actually purchase any property, prosecutors said.

Telling victims that she couldn't give them too much information about the property given the private auction rules, she would eventually give them a fake contract of sale that often included a forged signature from the real property owner, according to investigators.

Many of the properties had never even been put up for sale, investigators found.

They also discovered that the private auction company Norman said she was a member of, "NY Private Auction Inc.," didn't exist, prosecutors said.

When some of the victims caught on, Norman paid them back either all or part of their money, often using funds that she had stolen from more recent investors, prosecutors said. In all, she has paid back four victims in full, three victims partially and has given no money back to seven victims.

Of the total $1.3 million stolen from investors, Norman has returned about $306,000. Approximately $998,000 is still outstanding, according to prosecutors.

Norman is charged with second- and third-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and related charges. Her bail was set at $350,000 bond or $100,000 cash, and she was ordered to return to court in August.