Yelena Litvak loved to gamble at the casinos.
And in order to fund her addiction, the Brooklyn woman posed as a real estate agent to steal from potential renters.
Rob Abruzzese of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has the scoop, after Litvak pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree grand larceny:
According to prosecutors, between Jan. 2017 and March 2018, Litvak pretended to be a real estate agent and property manager of various Mitchell-Lama housing developments, which are city-sponsored developments that provide rental and cooperative housing for moderate and middle-income households.
She falsely claimed that she could facilitate rentals of apartments at the Kings Bay Housing Company in Brooklyn, and often targeted middle-aged Russian immigrants in Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach by offering to help them "fast track" applications in exchange for cash payments, according to prosecutors.
The 20 victims each lost between $15,000 and $82,000. She gambled most of the money away at casinos, prosecutors said.
“The defendant cheated more than a dozen innocent people out of their life savings and hard-earned cash, then gambled it away,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, according to Abruzzese.
