A New York man accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for a West Mifflin subsidized housing complex will stand trial.
Following a two-part hearing, District Judge Richard Olasz Jr. on Friday held the charges against Moshe Silber, including theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, risking catastrophe and public nuisance.
The case stems from the condition of the Mon View Heights apartment complex.
Silber, 35, was one of three men charged in February.
Fredrick Schulman, 72, of New York, waived his charges to Common Pleas Court earlier this month, and charges against the third man, Jonathan Liani, 39, of New York, were withdrawn by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on March 7.
The prosecution said that Silber and Schulman diverted $580,000 meant for improvement to the subsidized housing complex to third-party companies controlled by Silber.
They purchased the 326-unit property in December 2022 for $17 million.
According to the police, conditions at Mon View began to deteriorate in March 2023.
Problems ranged from a failure to collect trash, to raccoons and skunks roaming apartments, to raw sewage flowing into a parking lot.
In addition, police were frequently called to the complex for domestic incidents, shots fired and other problems.
Both Silber and Schulman pleaded guilty in federal court in New Jersey last year to participating in an extensive, multi-year mortgage fraud conspiracy to obtain $119 million in loans.
On March 18, Silber was ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison and three years supervised release.
Schulman was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day incarceration and one year supervised release — with nine months of that on house arrest.