Deed-theft fraudster who cheated poor 83-year-old woman out of NYC brownstone learns his fate

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Heartless property thief Joseph Makhani, 63, was convicted by a jury at trial over the summer for swindling his way into owning a pair of Harlem properties valued together at around $5 million.

A sleazy real-estate scammer who swiped two pricey Manhattan brownstones from their owners — including an 83-year-old woman — landed up to 21 years in the slammer Tuesday.

Heartless property thief Joseph Makhani, 63, was convicted by a jury at trial over the summer for swindling his way into owning a pair of Harlem properties valued together at around $5 million.

The case, which was brought forward by the state Attorney General’s Office, included testimony from Veronica Palmer, the elderly Harlem property owner who was booted out of her brownstone, which she purchased in 1985, because of Makhani’s scam.

Palmer, a former corrections officer who ended up living at a Brownsville homeless shelter, never wanted to sell her property at 107 W. 118th St., even though it had fallen into disrepair, prosecutors said.

But Makhani took possession of the home by falsifying documents and then used the property to get his hands on a $1.2 million loan he wasn’t entitled to, authorities said.

Prosecutor Matthew Luongo described Makhani as someone who viewed “people beneath him,” while acting in a “callous and conniving” manner. The AG’s office sought a sentence of 7 1/3 to 22 years behind bars, almost exactly what Makhani got.

State Attorney General Letitia James had indicted Makhani over the fraud in 2021, but the real-estate developer beat the case on a technicality — only to have James file a second indictment two years later.

Makhani was also convicted of lifting a second brownstone at 135 W. 131st St. by convincing tenant Tyrone Boozier to claim ownership and sign over the property to him, despite the actual owner dying years earlier.

Makhani was found guilty of two counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree and one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree.

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