One of three men from New York accused of stealing $580,000 related to the Mon View Heights housing complex in West Mifflin surrendered to authorities on Thursday.
Jonathan Liani, 39,was arraigned and is free on $250,000 unsecured bail, according to court records.
Allegheny County detectives said in court papers filed Feb. 4 that Liani, Moshe Silber, 35 and Frederick Schulman, 72, all of New York, took money that could have been used to make improvements at the housing complex and diverted it into various bank accounts.
All three men are charged with theft, causing or risking a catastrophe, receiving stolen property, conspiracy and making a public nuisance.
Liani’s attorney, Fred Rabner, said his client has no criminal history.
“The evidence will establish fairly quickly that Jonathan Liani was merely an outside vendor who had signatory powers only in that capacity and had zero ownership in the entity that defrauded the borough, nor was he involved whatsoever in the underlying real estate deal,” Rabner said.
“Furthermore, there is zero flow of monies from any of the activities to him in any way, shape or form. We expect him to be vindicated shortly.”
Neither Silber nor Schulman has been arraigned in the case. They are facing unrelated federal charges in New Jersey.
Both men were placed on electronic monitoring by a federal judge as a result of the Allegheny County cases, according to federal court filings.
Silber will be on home detention until Feb. 24 when he must surrender to the U.S. Marshal’s Service. He will be held without bail until the conclusion of the federal criminal case, a judge ordered.
Schulman is forbidden from participating in any real estate business. Prosecutors said in court filings that both Silber and Schulman deny the allegations in Allegheny County.
The charges came after a monthslong investigation into the living conditions at Mon View Heights, where the majority of units failed inspection, police said.
There were dozens of property violations and failed repeated attempts at communication by West Mifflin officials with the complex’s owners, according to court papers.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. toured the housing complex in October and met with residents.
According to Allegheny County property records, Mon View Apts LLC purchased the 326-unit Midway Drive property in December 2022 for $17 million.
Liani, Silber and Schulman were listed as the owners of the limited liability company that owns the complex, police said.
The Allegheny County detectives’ investigation linked Liani, Silber and Schulman to several other properties around the region that authorities said had similar living conditions.
Those properties include: Gallatin Apartments in Uniontown; Palisades Manor in Rankin; Valley Royal Court in New Kensington; Bethesda Wilkinsburg Apartments; and Bedford Hill Apartments, Central Hill Apartments, Elhome Apartments, Hill Com I and II, and Kelly Hamilton Apartments, all in Pittsburgh.
Schulman and Silber pleaded guilty over the summer in New Jersey federal court to fraudulently obtaining two loans — for $74 million and $45 million — to buy a multifamily property in Ohio and technology park in Michigan through Rhodium Capital Advisors.
Schulman and Silber pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to prosecutors.
The defendants provided lenders with false documents related to the purchase and inflated the purchase prices, prosecutors said. They are awaiting sentencing.