Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today the indictment of a New Jersey man for falsely filing forged deeds in an attempt to transfer four Chinatown properties to himself.

YIP SHUEN NG, 82, was arrested in New Jersey and extradited to New York. He is charged with multiple counts of possessing and filing forged documents.

The investigation leading to the indictment revealed that on four separate occasions in 2008, NG filed forged deeds with the City Register purportedly conveying Chinatown properties to himself. The bogus deeds bore the signatures of NG and those of the supposed owners. The residential and commercial properties were located at 61 Mott, 91 Bowery, 34 Mott, and 26 Mulberry Streets. NG did not own any of the properties and had no authority to act as an agent of the properties.

The investigation began after the property owners and building managers complained to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. NG was arrested and pleaded guilty to similar conduct in May 2007. He previously filed forged deeds with the City Register relating to three properties in Chinatown — 14 Bowery, 93 Bowery, and 26 Mulberry Streets. The deeds bore the signatures of NG as the representative of the properties and conveyed the properties to the defendant. NG was given a conditional discharge and ordered to restore all stolen properties to their rightful owners at his own expense before sentencing.

The property owner of 26 Mulberry is the same victim who was re-victimized on September 4, 2008, as referenced in the latest indictment. On April 10, 2007, the defendant pleaded guilty in this case to Attempted Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced on May 22, 2007 to a conditional discharge.

One of the properties involved in those fraudulent filings at 26 Mulberry Street is the same as in today’s indictment.  

The defendant has been indicted on four counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree a class D felony, which is punishable by up to seven years in prison and four counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony, which is punishable by one and 1/3 to four years in prison. The investigation is continuing.       

NG was arraigned today in New York State Supreme Court.

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Siegmund presented the case to the grand jury and will be in charge of the prosecution, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wornom, Special Prosecutions Bureau Chief. Investigator Farryl Sverd also assisted in the investigation, under the supervision of Joseph Pennisi, Chief of the Investigations Bureau.

Defendant information:

YIP SHUEN NG, 10/15/26
172 Virginia Avenue
Dumont, New Jersey

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