An infamous New York City landlord and convicted scammer is facing foreclosure on approximately 35 of his Manhattan properties after defaulting on almost $170 million in loans, according to documents filed in civil court.
Steven Croman, who had previously served a year in jail on Rikers Island after he pleaded guilty to fraud in 2017, is now the subject of a series of lawsuits filed against him in Manhattan Supreme Court that claim that he is in default on numerous real estate loans totaling a whopping $168 million.
The loans in question were originally taken out from New York Community Bank and then Flagstar Bank following a merger of the two lending institutions in 2022; they were then reassigned to Orange Owner LLC last month.
The suit claims that Croman has not made payments on his loans in months, and is currently millions of dollars behind.
Croman – dubbed by then-state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as “the Bernie Madoff of landlords” – had previously owned as many at 140 buildings, but was accused and convicted of receiving tens of millions of bank loans after filing phony paperwork, as per prosecutors; he later admitted to such in court, and served the aforementioned year on Rikers as punishment.
Reports last week indicated at the time that Orange was suing Croman for allegedly defaulting on loans for five different buildings, for a total of $71.5 million. However, new court filings – which now brings the total number of lawsuits against him up to 20 – show that amount has increased by as much as $100 million extra, tied to numerous other properties throughout Manhattan.
Croman is accused of ceasing loan payments in August, with many of the properties in question now facing foreclosure.
