A Brooklyn woman is charged with stealing thousands of dollars from prospective tenants by pretending to rent out her Gravesend apartment.
Svetlana Katzevman posted ads for an apartment at 1800 Ocean Parkway in a Russian language newspaper and charged $700 to $2,300 in cash for security deposits and rent, according to an indictment announced Monday by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
When the tenants showed up at the apartment, the door was locked and Katzevman did not return their calls or text messages, the District Attorney alleges. Katzevman lives in the apartment she was allegedly renting and never provided the tenants with leases, the District Attorney’s office says.
Several of the victims recently emigrated from Ukraine and Katzevman allegedly told them that she was giving them discounts because she was also Ukrainian, according to the District Attorney. The dozen victims all speak Russian and either work or live in Brooklyn.
Katzevman, 62, was charged with grand larceny and released without bail. She allegedly collected about $15,800 from victims between January 2022 and July 2024. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
One of them was a 38-year-old man who forked over a $700 deposit and paid another $700 for the first month’s rent, the District Attorney says. The same day, she allegedly took $700 from a 60-year-old man for a security deposit, and another $700 in rent three days later.
Read more
Residential
New York
Jeff Sutton buys Gravesend home from Chera family for $14M
Commercial
New York
Former Brooklyn lawyer accused of $8M deed theft scheme
Residential
New York
“Wolf of Airbnb” gets 4 years for rent fraud scheme
Katzevman also collected a $1,600 cash deposit from a 40-year-old and a $2,300 cash deposit from a 65-year-old woman in April. All of them expected to move in shortly after but discovered the apartment door locked, the District Attorney says.
“This defendant is accused of exploiting the trust and vulnerability of her neighbors, many of whom are newly arrived immigrants seeking stability in a new country,” Gonzalez said in a statement.