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Dime Community Bank lost more than $740,000 after a suspended attorney allegedly cashed bad checks and stole over $400,000 from two borrowers during mortgage refinancings, according to the DA. <\/p>\n
QNS file photo<\/p>\n
A Queens grand jury indicted a suspended Middle Village<\/a> attorney for grand larceny and other crimes for collectively stealing more than $1 million from two borrowers at mortgage refinancings and from and Dime Community Bank<\/a> by writing bad checks. <\/p>\n Jose Polanco, 52, was arraigned Thursday, June 3, on an indictment charging him with grand larceny in the first and second degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the first and second degrees, and scheme to defraud in the first degree. During his fraudulent scheme, Polanco, a former attorney who has been suspended since 2018, allegedly funneled more than $1.5 million to bank accounts in Peru.<\/p>\n According to the charges and investigation, from January through March 2026, Polanco worked as a \u201cbank closer\u201d for a law firm based in Jackson Heights. His duties included ensuring that documents were executed and checks properly distributed at borrowers\u2019 loan closings. Instead, Polanco allegedly issued an insufficient funds check for more than $400,000 in loan proceeds at two refinancing closings. One victim lost approximately $212,000 from a $300,000 mortgage refinancing, funds that were supposed to be paid to various creditors. The theft left the victim liable for both the interest due on the original loans and the refinancing.<\/p>\n A second Queens resident lost approximately $193,000 on a mortgage refinancing. He is liable for his original loan and the amount owed on the refinancing. Both victims are attempting to work out solutions with their lenders.<\/p>\n Dime Community Bank lost approximately $774,000 based on Polanco allegedly cashing bad checks drawn to accounts that he or his wife controlled. The bank is still owed approximately $657,000.<\/p>\n During the period Polanco allegedly stole the money he transferred more than $1.5 million to an entity with multiple bank accounts in Peru.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAs alleged, this defendant took advantage of homeowners who were counting on mortgage refinancings to pay off their debts,\u201d Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. \u201cHe allegedly swindled clients out of more than $400,000 and left Dime Community Bank on the hook for $744,000.\u201d<\/p>\n Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh Cheng set bail at $50,000 cash or bond and ordered Polanco to return to court on July 15. If convicted, he faces up to 8 \u2153 to 25 years in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cI urge anyone who suspects that they may have been taken advantage of in a real estate transaction to contact our Consumer Fraud Hotline at 718-286-6673.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dime Community Bank lost more than $740,000 after a suspended attorney allegedly cashed bad checks and stole over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[20734,99805,334,99806,9,24,63,122,5193,124,123,11231],"class_list":["post-256253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-criminal-possession-of-stolen-property","tag-dime-community-bank","tag-grand-larceny","tag-jose-polanco","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-district-attorney-melinda-katz","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-scheme-to-defraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256253","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=256253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}