New York is on the board with its first conviction under the state’s criminal deed theft law.
Victor Quimis pleaded guilty to stealing the home of Renuka Bherwani, an elderly widow who lived in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, the New York Attorney General’s Office announced. The charges Quimis faced included two counts of grand larceny and one count of residential mortgage fraud.
“Deed theft is a malicious crime that robs families of their homes, their community, and their financial security,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
Quimis and a co-conspirator were accused of forging Bherwani’s signature on documents transferring ownership of the home to themselves. They then forged more documents, according to the AG’s office, transferring ownership of the home to a company controlled by Quimis.
Quimis then obtained a $552,000 mortgage on the property, pocketing more than $300,000 after paying off prior mortgages and liens. Quimis and his co-conspirator were indicted in August 2025, two months after Bherwani died; she had been receiving end-of-life hospice care in the same home allegedly stolen from her when the scheme unfolded.
Quimis is set to be sentenced for his role in the crime in mid-January. Sentencing guidelines call for one and a half to four and a half years in state prison.
Deepa Roy, the alleged co-conspirator in the case, entered a not guilty plea to the charges she faces. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.
The forged deeds will be vacated when Quimis is sentenced in January, allowing the home to be returned to Bherwani’s family. The AG’s office is also seeking to void the mortgage Quimis took out.
“I am grateful to the Attorney General and to the investigators, auditors and prosecutors who built this case,” Bherwani’s son said in a statement.
The conviction was made possible by a 2023 law — drafted by James and Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie — that extended the statute of limitations on cases and gave the AG authority to prosecute directly, rather than relying on local district attorneys.
A companion measure also gave the attorney general and local prosecutors the power to halt court proceedings where the possession of a property is in dispute.
Read more
Two New Yorkers indicted for swiping Queens home from dying widow
Hochul signs deed theft legislation
Inside Joseph Makhani’s deed theft machine
