By LAURA ITALIANO and ZACHERY KOUWE
Last updated: 4:07 am
August 28, 2008
Posted: 3:56 am
August 28, 2008
Adam Hochfelder, the 37-year-old hotshot real-estate developer, was arrested yesterday on charges of cheating banks, relatives and friends out of more than $17 million over the last six years.
The former chairman of Max Capital Management, once one of the largest commercial landlords in Manhattan, allegedly forged numerous documents and lied about his net worth in order to secure $10 million in loans from Bank of America and North Fork Bank, prosecutors said yesterday.
Hochfelder was arrested yesterday at his apartment on East 96th St. and spent the night in jail. A hearing on bail is scheduled for today.
Among other charges, the real-estate developer was indicted on six counts of grand larceny, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
Hochfelder, the son of a garment manufacturer from Old Westbury, LI, gained notoriety in 1998 when he bought 230 Park Avenue - once owned by real estate legend Harry Helmsley.
Over the course of the DA's four-year investigation, Hochfelder has paid back a little over $12 million to the two banks and his allegedly swindled friends and family members.
Prosecutors allege he took money and used it to pay capital calls at Max Capital and for personal expenses.
"He was very successful at convincing people he was a successful entrepreneur, but he was getting along on borrowed money," Morganthau said.
