A Bedford Hills woman claims that her father forged her name to divert a check to his business and then to take a house she owns in Brewster.
Kimberly Labriola accused Carmine Labriola and RE Landscapes Inc., both of Brewster, of unjust enrichment in a complaint filed Jan. 13 in Westchester Supreme Court, for allegedly taking a house worth about $500,000 and diverting a $47,510 check to RE Landscapes.
At least part of the daughter-father animus, as depicted in the complaint, is a family battle with Carmine petitioning Putnam County Family Court for partial custody of Kimberly”™s son.
He admitted in a letter to the court last April that he took the home on Shore Drive, Lake Tonetta Heights, because “I could not trust her or her boyfriend, who tells Kimberly that she owns the house and call me a fraud,” according to the complaint. “I executed the purchase with a perfectly legal quitclaim deed. I am financing the mortgage into my name only, which is also perfectly legal.”
They had bought the house together during better times in 2018, for $275,000 and mortgaged it for $251,831. The 3,572-square-foot house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms on a half-acre lot with an in-ground swimming pool.
In 2020, the complaint says, Carmine transferred his interest in the property to Kimberly, granting her sole ownership. She refinanced with a $310,000 mortgage, using the money to pay off the original mortgage and leaving a balance of $47,510.
The mortgage company sent the check to Brewster house, where Carmine lived.
Carmine allegedly forged his daughter”™s signature on the check, wrote “pay to the order of RE Landscapes Inc.” and deposited the check into his business bank account.
Five months later, the complaint states, Carmine filed a quitclaim deed in his daughter”™s name, forging her signature and transferring the property title to himself.
The quitclaim deed was defective, according to the complaint, and last February Carmine filed another quitclaim deed, forging his daughter”™s name again and transferring her interest to himself.
The property was the collateral for Kimberly”™s mortgage, the complaint says, so the mortgage company could require her to pay off the entire loan at once.
Kimberly is demanding that Carmine pay her the value of the property, estimated by the Zillow and Redfin real estate websites to be worth about $486,000 to $494,000, or transfer the property back to her. She is also demanding $47,510 from the allegedly diverted mortgage check.
Manhattan attorneys Steven Gold and Alexander Gardner represent Kimberly Labriola.
