A former New York State Judge, alongside a Brooklyn resident, allegedly stole millions of dollars from individuals through illegitimate real estate investment schemes.
Sam Sprei, 37, also known as “Yechiel Sprei,” “Shimon Sprei,” and “Eli Shapiro,” and Edward Harold King, 72, a former Kings County Supreme Court Justice, on Wednesday were both arrested and charged with wire fraud conspiracy, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney Eastern District of New York.
Sprei and King are accused of perpetrating numerous schemes to defraud real estate investors in which they solicited the victims’ funds in fictitious investment opportunities, represented to the victims that their invested funds would be returnable on demand if the victims decided to end their involvement, and then later refused to return the money based on false excuses and converted a significant portion of the victims’ funds for their own use.
In once instance in November 2024, Sprei presented two investors with an opportunity to purchase commercial real estate located in Freehold, N.J. Sprei told the investors that to take advantage of this opportunity, they would first have to show “proof of liquidity” by depositing funds in escrow. In addition, Sprei told the investors that King was an independent escrow agent and a New York judge, according to prosecutors.
Sprei also made numerous misrepresentations designed to deceive the investors, including that if the Investors decided not to pursue the investment, they could advise the escrow agent and would receive the full amount deposited within two business days. Based on these representations from Sprei, the investors wired a total of $6.5 million to a bank account in King’s name, prosecutors said.
In the days immediately following the wire transfers, millions of dollars were withdrawn or transferred to a bank account in Sprei’s name. When the investors subsequently wrote to King to request the return of their deposited funds, King provided false excuses as to why he could not return the money. Months later, King and Sprei returned $1.5 million to the investors, representing only a portion of the investment, prosecutors said.
To date, Sprei and King have not returned any further funds to the Investors, prosecutors said.
“As alleged, the defendants stole millions of dollars from investors by cynically leveraging King’s position as a sitting judge to lend false legitimacy to supposed investment opportunities,” Nocella said in a statement. “Today’s arrests demonstrate that this office will hold accountable those who exploit victims for their own financial gain. Holding corrupt individuals accountable for the abuse of public trust will always be a priority of our office.”
