{"id":297756,"date":"2026-07-16T16:19:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297756\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:19:48","slug":"nyc-broker-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-rental-deposits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297756\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Broker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Rental Deposits"},"content":{"rendered":"

To nearly two dozen prospective New York renters, Juan Valoy appeared to be an honest real estate broker. But prosecutors say he was a fake who pocketed $105,000 of their money.<\/p>\n

The phony broker has pleaded guilty to two cases in Manhattan and in the Bronx for a scam that included taking fees, security deposits and first-month rents after showing apartments for which he neither owned nor had rights, Gothamist reported<\/a>. He\u2019ll spend at least four years behind bars.<\/p>\n

The boroughs\u2019 district attorney\u2019s offices say he stole around $25,000 from three victims in Manhattan and $80,000 from 18 victims in the Bronx. Most of his victims were Hispanic and primarily Spanish-speaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valoy admitted to authorities the deposits for apartments he\u2019d taken were his sole source of income, according to voluntary disclosure forms Bronx prosecutors provided to Gothamist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to work as a Realtor. Business went bad, and I had to make some money. I started showing apartments because I know how to be a Realtor,\u201d Valoy disclosed. \u201cI would have people fill out the application and submit them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my fault that the applications were not accepted and I cannot return the money because I spent it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Manhattan, Valoy pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny under a plea deal that calls for him to be sentenced to two to four years in state prison on Sept. 9, District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Bronx, Valoy pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and scheme to defraud, and was sentenced to four years in state prison followed by five years of supervised release, an assistant district attorney in the borough\u2019s office said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Yorkers trusted Juan Valoy to rent them apartments. He broke that trust by pocketing their money, leaving them without homes,\u201d Bragg said in a statement. \u201cJuan Valoy is facing time in state prison for his harmful conduct. Manhattan is facing a housing crisis, and we will prosecute those who exploit it for their own advantage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valoy\u2019s scam was simple: he\u2019d show desperate prospective renters renovated apartments that he had no right to rent, then take from $2,500 to $7,000 from each victim, promising their money would guarantee the unit because there were many interested parties, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d then not return their calls, or refuse to refund their money, the district attorneys said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors were presenting their case to a grand jury last year when Valoy stopped showing up for trial, according to the Bronx District Attorney\u2019s office. They learned he\u2019d started operating in Manhattan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bronx and Manhattan prosecutors found him hiding in motels in Yonkers, Bronx officials said. He was arrested and bail was set for $150,000. Valoy was unable to make bail and is now on Rikers Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time Valoy posed as a Realtor to defraud renters. In 2014, he was sentenced to up to 4 years in state prison for stealing thousands of dollars in an apartment scam in Washington Heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Dana Bartholomew<\/p>\n

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

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An ex-Vornado exec\u2019s scheme ends in a conviction<\/p>\n

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

Real estate has a Ponzi problem<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m ashamed\u201d: Josh Schuster pleads guilty to Ponzi scheme<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To nearly two dozen prospective New York renters, Juan Valoy appeared to be an honest real estate broker.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130,113279],"class_list":["post-297756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-valoy-nyc-broker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297756","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=297756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}