{"id":143830,"date":"2026-02-24T15:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143830\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:36:45","slug":"nir-meir-manhattan-d-a-are-at-an-impasse-on-plea-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143830\/","title":{"rendered":"Nir Meir, Manhattan D.A. are at an \u201cimpasse\u201d on plea deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s two-year long criminal proceedings against disgraced former HFZ Capital executive Nir Meir will be resolved this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it is still to be determined whether that means a trial or a plea deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe here at the District Attorney\u2019s office have reached an impasse as to what our position is regarding a sentence should Mr. Meir wish to plead,\u201d said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Beard at a court appearance on February 18 in front of Judge Ann Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Meir was the mastermind behind a $86 million fraud scheme<\/a>. The D.A.\u2019s office alleges Meir diverted funds from HFZ luxury condo projects, including the XI on the High Line, to other projects or HFZ executives personal accounts. Meir has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

But Meir\u2019s attorney, Stephen McCarthy, told the judge he\u2019s had conversations with the prosecutor, leaving the possibility of a plea deal on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to resolve this case, if we can, and we are very much still working to do that,\u201d said McCarthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge has not scheduled a trial date, but said if the case does head to trial it would likely be in September.<\/p>\n

Meir could be staring down a lengthy prison sentence if he is found guilty at trial. Meir was charged in four separate indictments with varying counts of larceny, conspiracy, falsifying business records and tax fraud. At a hearing last year, Judge Thompson told Meir he could face seven to 21 years on each of the four cases.<\/p>\n

Meir is also talking with the New York State Attorney General\u2019s office over another ongoing investigation. A spokesperson for the AG\u2019s office declined to comment on pending investigations. The AG\u2019s office previously confirmed it was reviewing a fraud complaint against HFZ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Meir has had a good, productive dialogue with the AG\u2019s office. He is going to appear there,\u201d said McCarthy at the February court appearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meir was arrested at the One Hotel in Miami Beach in February 2024 and extradited to New York City. Initially, Meir was unable to pay his bail and was held in Rikers for about a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge lowered his insurance bond to $1 million and he was released<\/a> in early 2025 only to return<\/a> to Rikers weeks later. In June 2025, Judge Thompson released Meir again. Meir is confined to a New York City apartment with electronic monitoring in an undisclosed location. He is now on to his third lawyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The D.A. also charged HFZ construction executives Anthony Marrone<\/a> and Louis Della-Peruta, along with construction firm Omnibild, its CEO John Mingione and two other Omnibuild employees for their roles in Meir\u2019s fraud. Prosecutors alleged Omnibuild conspired with Meir and Marrone to inflate monthly invoices to lenders. Marrone, Della-Peruta have pleaded guilty, but received no jail time. Omnibuild project manager, Roy Galifi,<\/a> pleaded guilty for running a kickback scheme at the XI condo development.<\/p>\n

Omnibuild and Mingione have continued to plead their innocence claiming they were victims of Meir and HFZ\u2019s bad acts. A trial is set for April.<\/p>\n

Meir<\/a>, however, is the D.A.\u2019s main target. Prosecutors allege Meir moved hundreds of millions of dollars out of designated accounts for HFZ\u2019s projects, only to return the money with sizable shortfalls. Meir is also accused of defrauding the city out of $15 million in taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years after the D.A. announced the charges, prosecutors and Meir\u2019s attorney have finally completed the discovery process.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically\u2026 you are still simply in a holding pattern waiting for either a disposition or trial,\u201d said Thompson.<\/p>\n

Meir\u2019s attorney did not immediately return a request to comment. The D.A.\u2019s office declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\tRead more
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Anthony\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

HFZ\u2019s Anthony Marrone pleads guilty in fraud scheme<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a>
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Former Omnibuild employee pleads guilty to kickback scheme at XI<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Photo\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Nir Meir: I\u2019m penniless<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s two-year long criminal proceedings against disgraced former HFZ Capital executive Nir Meir will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,60360,84,83,9,24,60359,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-143830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-d-a-at-impasse","10":"tag-manhattan-headlines","11":"tag-manhattan-news","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nir-meir","15":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}