The real estate appraiser whose vastly undervalued $3.2 million
assessment of the Hillcrest School in East Ramapo led to its
controversial sale to a Sqvare hasidic girls school run by Congregation
Avir Yakov has now been charged with felonies related to the appraisal.
Last updated at 4:15 pm CDT 7-31-2013
First Arrest In Scandal-Plagued Haredi-Controlled Schoolboard Scandal
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The real estate appraiser whose vastly undervalued $3.2 million assessment of the Hillcrest School in East Ramapo led to its controversial sale to a Sqvare hasidic girls school run by Congregation Avir Yakov has now been charged with felonies related to the appraisal, the Journal News reported.
The sale was annulled by the state in 2011, leading to East Ramapo’s haredi-controlled school board to lease the building to the hasidic school at a rate vastly below the market rent rate. That lease was voided by the state education Commissioner earlier this month.
The appraiser, 57-year-old Avi M. Vardi, was arrested and then arraigned today in Clarkstown Justice Court on charges of grand larceny and filing a false instrument after a felony criminal complaint against him was filed by New York State’s Assistant Attorney General Simon Brandler.
Vardi was an owner of The Appraisal Group located in in Parsippany, New Jersey when he appraised the Hillcrest Elementary School for the scandal-ridden haredi-controlled East Ramapo school board.
Vardi was paid $3,500 by the district, which was “acting on the false understanding” that Vardi had provided an independent appraisal, the criminal complaint reportedly alleges.
But Vardi was also allegedly paid $5,000 by the Sqvere hasidic group, Avir Yakov.
The state’s 18-month investigation into the sales of the Hillcrest and Colton schools and other irregularities in the district reportedly continues.