The federal government wants to force the sale of a New Rochelle house owned by an investment banker and a banking attorney who owe nearly $1.1 million in federal personal income taxes.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton brought the lawsuit on Dec. 17 against Edward H. Fitzelle and Jane Croes, in U.S. District Court, White Plains, on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service.
The lawsuit is based on six years of unpaid federal tax liens – 2 014 to 2018 and in 2023 – that the married couple allegedly failed to satisfy. The assessments include $614,581 in unpaid taxes and $476,910 in penalties, fees and interest.
Fitzelle is the managing partner of Luntz, Suleiman & Associates, a New Rochelle investment banking firm. According to a LinkedIn profile, he finds buyers for media, education and training companies.
Croes is a partner at Emmet, Marvin & Marvin, a Manhattan law firm where she specializes in banking and finance, commercial lending, and public finance.
Despite IRS demands, the complaint states, the couple “failed, neglected, or refused to pay the full amount of the assessed liabilities.”
Federal tax liens may be applied against all property, including a house, according to the complaint. Now the government seeks to reduce its claim on the New Rochelle house to a court judgment that can facilitate a foreclosure.
Fitzelle and Croes bought the house for $875,000 in 2000. The 4,338-square-foot, 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath colonial is on a half-acre lot on Lyncroft Road in the Wykagyl Park neighborhood. According to the Zillow online real estate marketplace, it is worth about $1.9 million.
Three banks also may have claims on the house, according to the complaint, and New York tax warrants indicate that Fitzelle and Croes owe more than $406,000 in state taxes.
Assistant prosecutor Jeremy M. Liss is asking the court to approve foreclosure and sale of the house, and to declare that no other claims against the property may be paid until “the IRS’s claims are fully satisfied.”
Fitzelle and Croes did not reply to a message asking for their responses to the allegations.
